Geoheritage, Local Wisdom, and Spring Conservation: The Sedekah Sendang Dewot Tradition of Wonosoco Village, Kudus Regency, Central Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Spring-water resources worldwide are under mounting pressure from land-use conversion, urban expansion, and conservation models that rely heavily on top-down technical and regulatory instruments while neglecting the social, spiritual, and cultural dimensions of water stewardship. This study investigates how local wisdom contributes to evidence-based spring conservation through the case of Sedekah Sendang Dewot, an annual votive ceremony performed by the community of Wonosoco Village, Undaan District, Kudus Regency, Central Java, examined within the geoheritage framework of the Muria Mountain landscape. A mixed-methods design integrated quantitative spatial analysis using a Geographic Information System (GIS) with descriptive qualitative analysis, drawing on hydrogeological maps, a Digital Elevation Model, land-use/land-cover data, field-based geosite inventory, in-depth interviews, and participant observation. Results indicate that Sendang Dewot is a lowland spring, situated at approximately 21 metres above sea level, whose emergence is associated with a sub-surface hydrological system embedded in the volcanic landscape of Muria. The Sedekah Sendang Dewot tradition functions as a community-based conservation mechanism sustained through customary prohibitions, periodic ritual cleansing (resik-resik), and belief in a spiritual guardian (danyang) that reinforces compliance. Spatial zonation integrating hydrogeological and cultural criteria delineated a sacred core, hydrological buffer, education-and-culture zone, and landscape zone; overlay analysis showed that residential land use dominates all four zones, indicating persistent anthropogenic pressure even within the sacred core. These findings demonstrate that ritual-based local wisdom is a substantive, spatially expressed conservation instrument that can be systematically integrated with geoheritage science to inform sustainable, culturally grounded eco-geotourism planning in the Muria region.