"Panas Pela" (renewing "Pela" promise) is an indigenous rite about siblinghood relationship in many of adat village in Ambon-Lease and some village in Ceram Island, central Maluku. The ritual is always interpreted as symbol of siblinghood, social integration, trust etc. However, in many Pela relationships in most communities, Pela has been constructed based on the socio-economic importance. Or even in the warfare, Pela is a symbol of alliance. In the context of Galala and Hitu village, the last Panas Pela ritual in October 2015 had been interpreted (in the new perspective) as a symbol of Christian-Muslim reconciliation in Ambon, Maluku. Because of its contested meaning and contrasting uses (economics importance and war or violence), it is important to provide an interpretation of the ritual to support the reconciliation. Based on theory of ritual and peacebuilding, this paper will elaborate on how a new interpretation of Panas Pela may become a symbol of peace, in contrast on its previous meaning for alliance in warfare or economics importance. In this paper I want to emphasize on the important aspects of Panas Pela re-interpretation because I believe that the reconciliation meaning is built both in the ritual and its interpretation, not only in the ritual itself.

Keywords: Panas Pela, ritual, changed meaning, adat, reconciliation