Religious activities of Batak Samosir People at Toba Lake, Sumatra.




All Photos by bagak_ida

The Indonesian people will have a new president. The presidential election will be held on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. It’s becoming a big day where the people decide the destiny of this country.

There are three candidates for President that is Megawati Sukarno Putri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), and Mohamad Jusuf Kala (JK). Each candidate has gave their vision and programes during their campaign. The best one is that get biggest vote.

For vice president, Mega chooses Prabowo Subiakto (formerly the Commander of Indonesian Special Force/KOPASUS). SBY chooses Budiono (formerly the Chief of Bank Indonesia), while JK chooses Wiranto (formerly the Indonesian Forces Commander).

See the next video.

Javanese has various traditions, which related to rites or ceremonies. Many aspects of life of the Javanese begin with ceremonies. A ceremony seems become the initiation to start, end or avoid something. Among ceremonies, there is one, which is very important to perform. For those who believe, this ceremony will improve the quality of life. Not only will it improve the economic aspect but also health, relationship, peace, welfare and luck. The ceremony is Ruwatan.

Ruwatan comes from the old Javanese language ‘mangruwat’. The meaning is to release or set free. The ceremony is essentially to pray to the God, asking protection and prevention from all disturbances. Therefore, the interesting things are on how the rite is performed and who should be involved.

For whom is the rite?
Before we discuss how the rite is performed, we have to know firstly on who should be involved. This is important because ruwatan should be performed for persons or thing with certain condition. This rite is for persons which is in the ‘sukerta’ category. The sukerta category can be ontang-anting (a child without brother or sister), kedhana-kedhini (a son and a daughter), kembang sepasang (two daughters), sendhang kapit pancuran (two daughters and a son, in which the son is born after the first daughter), pancuran kapit sendhang (two sons and a daughter, in which the daughter is born after the first son). The persons with sukerta category or we can call them as the patients, have bad luck that should be neutralized. The goal of this ceremony is to banish the sukerta (bad luck).

The Procession
The one who lead the ceremony is usually a person with spiritual ability. Commonly, a dalang (puppeteer of traditional Javanese shadow plays) leads the procession. The procession of ruwatan consists of four basic steps. The first is taking a bath. The patients wear pasatan (bathing cloth), the leader pours water over them. The water consists of kanthil (magnolia), mawar (rose) and melati (jasmine) flowers. The second step is hair cutting. Only a few hairs are cutted as symbol to banish the sukerta. The third is floating the pasatan and the hair to the sea. The fourth is the Javanese shadow puppet performance.

The shadow puppet performance is not merely a show but it consists of prays. It plays certain story namely Murwakala. It tells the beginning of the calamity occurs on earth. It is Batara Kala, a giant god, who asks food to Batara Guru, the king of gods. Batara Guru is afraid if Batara Kala will eat everything. Therefore, Batara Guru makes limitations on who can be eaten by Batara Kala. The human who may be eaten are those in the sukerta category. Then, Batara Kala comes down to earth to find victims. However, he gets no victim because Ki Dalang Kandhabuwana (the puppeteer) protects the people in the sukerta category.  Ki Dalang Kandhabuwana spells magic words (a prayer) to defeat and banish the evil power of Batara Kala.  The evil power is vanished, this also banish the sukerta from the patients.

For some of the Indonesian, river is an important aspect in their life. It is not just a pathway for water, but it can be the pathway of life. Many activities can be done on the river from just washing, take a bath to activities like buying, selling and spiritual rites.

Today, many rivers in the big cities of Indonesia are full of dirt. Big cities with population problem like Jakarta, has made the people less care about the environment. Take an example of Ciliwung river at Jakarta, it is full of garbage, smell not good and the color of the water is dark brown. The economic condition has insisted the people to use the water for bathing, tooth brushing, dish washing and even cooking.

Ciliwung River photo is taken from pu.go.id

Now let us take a look on rivers in the rural areas. Rural areas of Indonesia are commonly have better environment. The rivers are clean from garbage, the water is more proper for bathing and other activities than those of the big cities’. The villagers are commonly have well, but they love to do things on the rivers. River is not merely for washing, bathing, cleanse cattles or make something wet, it is a place for interacting with other people. In addition, people at Kuin-Barito, South Kalimantan, make the river as a market. Selling and buying are done on boats.

One more interesting thing that people do on river is spiritual rite. Some people use river to do a dip for a night long. This activity is basiccaly to test their motivation, emotion, believe and physical strength. People who do such thing are those who has certain believe and the rite is a way to achieve a goal. Nowadays, only few people do that.

The most important is we have to care about our environment. Water and air are the most important aspect of human’s life. Let’s start from our surrounding to save the planet.

Martabak Terang Bulan Photo

Visiting Sekaten at Jogjakarta, I’m interested in the traditional Javanese food that are sold. There are so many food stalls at the fair, just like ants encircling a grain of sugar. They are in a row of the street’s edge, try to serve the best food they have. Sound of stoves is familiar to my ear. They just give me a sign that the stalls are very busy serving the buyers and adding the stocks.

Traditional Donut

Food stalls are making the food directly on the location, so it is served hot and freshly.  They make the same kind of snacks every year. But, the buyers seem not bored to eat them. The name of the foods are martabak, terang bulan, ondhe-ondhe, donat, tahu goreng, galundeng, pisang molen and cak we.

Ondhe-ondhe

The taste is sweet for terang bulan, ondhe-ondhe, galundeng and pisang molen. The rest is salty. The foods are sold at affordable price, they are cheap. The price is about IDR 500 for a piece.

Sekaten is a religious and cultural event, and a fair to be held at Kasultanan Ngayogyakarta (Yogyakarta) and Kasunanan Surakarta (Sala). This  event is held to celebrate the birth of Prophet Muhammad, the foundedr of Islam. As we know Islam is the majority religion in Indonesia. In Yogyakarta, this event is full of spiritual ceremonies that should be done in a series. What are the processions from the start until the end?

Ziarah Pambuka
Ziarah Pambuka is a devotional visit to two tombs, Kotagede Burial and Imogiri Burial. The aim is to respect and to pray for the founder of Mataram (the former of Yogyakarta). At Kotagede, the pilgrims visit Panembahan Senopati’s grave. At Imogiri they visit the grave of former Kings of Yogyakarta. This year it take place on December 23, 2008.

Pasang Pathok
This is the ceremony to begin the preparation of the location of Sekaten. In Yogyakata, the location is always at Alun-alun Utara Kraton (North Square of Kraton Yogyakarta). On December 29, 2008.

Pambuka
It is the opening ceremony. In this ceremony, we can see various performances, the venue is on Alun-alun Utara or Pagelaran Kraton. Artists are performing their choreography, music arrangement and traditional singing. This is the most valuable time to be missed. The opening ceremony took place on January 30, 2009.

Miyos Gongso
This is the beginning event of sekaten when the sacred Gamelan Sekati that consists of Gamelan Kiai Nagawilaga and its replica Kiai Gunturmadu are taken out from the saving room at Bangsal Srimanganti to a prepared place at the Masjid Agung (Mosque) yard. The place for the gamelan is called ‘pagongan lor’ (north stage) and ‘pagongan kidul’ (south stage). The gamelan is played a week before the birthday of Prophet Muhammad at 12 Rabiul Awal or 12 Maulid. The date for this procession is on March 2, 2009.

Kondur Gongso
A night before 12 Mulid or before March 9, 2009, the gamelan will be taken back to its room at Bangsal Srimanganti. Before the ceremony, Sultan of Yogyakarta will attend at the porch of the Mosque to listen to the story of Prophet Muhammad. A chief of Kraton reads the story.

Grebeg Maulud
This event is the peak of Sekaten when the Grebeg Maulud comes out. This is the birthday of Muhammad, on 12 Maulud (March 9, 2009). Grebeg comes from the word “garebeg”, a cultural rite of Sultan to thank God for the blessing by giving alms for ‘abdi dalem’ (Sultans’s staff/servants) and ‘kawula dalem’ (the people). Gunungan Putri and Gunungan Kakung are the focus of grebeg. Gunungan is pyramidal offerings consists of food, vegetables and fruit. The people will compete to get everything from gunungan as they believe they will get prosperity. This procession is the end of Sekaten and the fair at Alun-alun utara Krataon.

Ziarah Panutup
This is the closing devotional visit to Kotagede and Imogiri tombs. It will take place on April 6, 2009.

‘It is rainy season. The temperature is rather cold to night. I need something to warm my body.’ ‘Do you need a jacket or a blanket?’ ‘No I don’t. I need something that warms me from the inside of my body.  Well, I need a drink.’ ‘A drink? Something with alcohol?’ ‘No, I need a drink that make me warm and stay healthy.’ ‘I know exactly what you need, let’s go find wedang Ronde!’

Wedang Ronde is a traditional Javanese drink served in a bowl, which is very helpful when the weather is cold. From the words, wedang is a Javanese language means a drink, ronde is the name for the main part of the drink. This kind of drink uses ginger as its ingredient. To get the merit, ginger is boiled in the water, along with other substances. As it has ginger, it will warm anybody who drinks it.  The taste is sweet but rather hot.


The substances of Wedang Ronde are ginger, citronella, brown sugar, salt, peanuts, the fruits of the sugar palm, and ronde (rice flour balls). The ronde itself is made from sticky rice. In the middle of the ball shaped ronde there is a mixture of brown sugar and peanuts. The peanut is heated in utensil without oil or water. The best utensil is earthen pot.

We can find Wedang ronde at Yogyakarta such as Alun-alun Utara, Alun-alun Selatan, Godean market, Malioboro street, etc. People specifically sell it with a cart. The price for a bowl of wedang ronde is about IDR 3000.