Gugon Tuhon in Serat Tata Cara: The Myth of Dietary Recommendation and Restrictions for Pregnant Women Riza Rahmawati 1 , Turita Indah Setyani 2 {rahmariza16@gmail.com 1 ,turita.indah@ui.ac.id 2 } 1 Sastra Daerah for Javanese Literature, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia. 2 Ilmu Susastra, Faculty of Humanities, Universitas Indonesia, Indonesia. Abstract. During pregnancy, women are likely to gain knowledge on recommended and restricted foods, called as gugon tuhon, ruled according to the cultural environment. Several of the recommendations and restrictions are considered irrational in modern society. This article is aimed at revealing the meaning of gugon tuhon for pregnant women in the form of dietary recommendations and restrictions written in Serat Tata Cara by Ki Padmasusastra. The analysis combines qualitative method with Paul Ricoeur’s hermeneutics theory and the concept of myth by Mircea Eliade to interpret messages embedded in literary works by cultural approach. Analysis results show that there are several dietary recommendations and restrictions for pregnant women in Javanese society. Gugon tuhon is constructed by the Javanese as a form of traditional surveillance. It represents some aspects of Javanese traditions still maintained until today. This article concludes that the dietary recommendations and restrictions for pregnant women are cannot be considered as mere myth as it can be explained in rational sense or read as the rationalization of the Javanese philosophy. Keywords:dietary recommendations and restrictions, gugon tuhon,pregnant women, Serat Tata Cara 1. INTRODUCTION Each society has its own cultural custom in responding the stages in human life. Koentjaraningrat reveals that many ethnic groups believe that each development from one life stage to another is a critical period, and customary ceremonies are required to resist threatening dangers for individuals from the environment.[1].Customary ceremony is believed to provide safety for the performers. Meanwhile, several societies are not only performing traditional ceremonies, as in the case of pregnant women where the society requires them to follow certain recommendations and restrictions during her pregnancy. It can be in the form of dietary and behavioral recommendations and restrictions. Pregnant women are likely to get recommendations and restrictions from their surroundings. They tend to follow the recommendations and restrictions with future SEWORD FRESSH 2019, April 27, Surakarta, Indonesia Copyright © 2019 EAI DOI 10.4108/eai.27-4-2019.2286902