luluran {loo-loo-run}

Javanese Bride and Groom

2009-10-18T11:35:00.004+07:00

gambar dari mudah menikah
dari weddingku
dari deteksi99

Pictures of Javanese bride and groom. In the traditional wedding ala Mataram court there are several ceremony such as lamaran, pasang tarub, tuwuhan siraman, ijab kabul, panggih, resepsi, sepasaran and selapanan. Normaly it takes four to five hours to prepare the bride make up and clothes. The bride have a paes pinanganten or wedding forehead painting in their front hair line. We can see that the javanese is not realy a body conscious people.

Wayang kulit, the Javanese Shadow puppet

2009-02-19T18:53:00.007+07:00

pic from kkseema
The puppet made from cow, buffalo or goat's skin which processed, engraved and painted until done. The puppet then played for a wayang kulit show, usually Ramayana or Mahabharata stories. It needs at least 18 people to play a complete shaddow puppet show, one puppet master or dalang, 2 singers and 15 peoples to play music instruments, the gamelan. The show can be up to 8 hours. The stage contains white fabric as a screen with banana tree pole lay down below for sticking all the puppets. The traditional lamp is a brass coconut oil lamp (blencong), but nowadays a halogen lamp will do. The audience watch from behind the white fabrics, only watch the shadow of the ornamental puppet.
This blog ki-demang (sorry, it's in Javenese!) and warta pepadi is a complete resource for more wayang kulit infos.

pic from micro.cosmic

fragment of Dewi Sri Boyong (Bring Dewi Sri) by Ki Manteb Sudarsono

this one is a shadow video with subtitles

BATIK: Indonesian Art of Textile

2008-10-04T15:06:00.013+07:00

pic from trulyjogja

Batik refers to textile that dyed several times with a specific technique called batik. Although the process of decorating cloth through the process of batik is found in several regions in Africa or India and even in some South East Asian countries, the batik of Indonesia is unique and unequaled. Batik is generally thought of as the most quintessentially Indonesian textile. Indonesian Batik is made in several regions, but the center of the art is Central Java, in cities like Yogyakarta, Solo, Cirebon, Pekalongan and Indramayu.

Motifs of flowers, twinning plants, leaves buds, flowers, birds, butterflies, fish, insects and geometric forms are rich in symbolic association and variety; there are about three thousand recorded batik patterns. Batik motifs recall characters from the Hindu epics, plants, animals, sea creatures and gamelan melodies.

pic from serve.com/aberges

In the 19th century, the application of waxed patterns with a large copper stamp or stenciled saved the batik industry from competition with cheap printed European cloth. The semi-industrial nature of stenciled work allows it to be performed by men. Stenciled batik is much cheaper than hand made. Stenciled usually produced by men while hand made batik usually made by women. So based on the process there are 2 types of batik, hand written batik (batik tulis) and stenciled batik (batik cap).
pic from gavirosenthal

The art of "batiking" is similar to the one of drawing or painting on a piece of cloth. The main tool - the canting (read:tjahn-thing)- is a small copper container with a long slender spout, is used instead of a pencil or brush, and liquid wax instead of paint.
pic from murnis

Finely detailed designs are first drawn freehand with a pencil on the textile. Then hot liquid wax is applied. From time to time the tip of the canting must be blown to secure an easy flow of the wax. Areas not slated for coloring are filed with the wax.
pic from trulyjogja

The cloth is then passed through a vat of dye. The wax is removed with hot water, scraped from the portions of the dried material still to be dyed. The parts that were covered by the wax did not absorb the dye and thus remain white (or whatever color the original cloth was previously dyied). Since the wax behave as a resisting medium, this process is called resist-dye process.
Next, other areas are waxed over. this is repeated during each phase of the coloring process, up to four or more times, until the overall pattern and effect are achieved.

pic from tjokrosuharto

A traditional recipe for batik wax is a mix of beeswax and paraffin, about 60:40. Beeswax is soft, pliable, and blocks completely: no cracking. Paraffin is more brittle, and lets dye penetrate wherever cracks form. Crackle is a characteristic batik effect, a scatter of thin dark wavy lines, a batik hallmark. Some dyers seek crackle, freezing and crumpling the cloth to make more. Others avoid, if they can, any effect that seems uncontrolled. For more crackle, more paraffin. Any clean, low-oil paraffin, melting from 130 - 150° F will work. Beeswax should be light yellow or tan and clear of debris. But most batik today is done with synthetic micro-crystalline waxes. They’re more consistent, more often reusable, penetrate better, can be heated (safely) to higher temperatures. They usually fall between beeswax and paraffin in price and in working properties. They can be blended with other waxes for intermediate effects.
Article source discover-indo
Klick here to know more about batik at Pekalongan batik museum.
This web have a complete story of Yogyakartan batik.

Today batik is not only applied in fabrics but also for wooden crafts like this mask below.
pic from baliartwares

Old picture of women wears batik and kebaya
pic from indonesiamedia

Modern batik inspired dress
pic from planet

Madura's Magic Wand

2008-09-19T23:12:00.001+07:00

Tongkat Madura (Madura's stick) is a secret maduranese women for a more sex-enjoyable vagina. This stick made from limestone, manjakani, rapet wood (Parameriae cortex), jati belanda leaves (Guazumae folia) and others. How to use: put the stick into vagina, leave it for 2 minutes and pull off. Wash the stick for next use. The purpose: to make the vjj drier for more enjoyable sex, nicer odor and cures fluor albus.

this Madura's stick unfortunately made in China

Drier vagina is preferable for Javanese and Indonesian women, believing the myth that drier vagina is more enjoyable for men because the drier it is the smaller and tighter it will be, just like a virgin. The article here spotted the myth from medical point of view, how women effort to make their vjj drier can lead them to a more vulnerable cervic and even dangerous for their health.

JAMU GENDONG

2008-09-17T22:24:00.007+07:00

the jamu lady in this picture still owe me 3 kgs of temugiring and go MIA

Jamu gendong means back carried jamu. This traditional lady vendors sell various jamus such as beras kencur (for fatigue and good appetite), kunir asam (for womans health), cabe puyang (for fatigue and pain), pahitan (for 'sweet blood' or diabetes), kunci suruh (for vagina's health), kudu laos (for better blood flows), and uyup-uyup/gepyokan (for better breast milk flows).
This jamus stored in the glass bottles and served in glass portion. Today they also sell 'modern' jamus in pills and powders and other traditional beauty stuffs such as lulur and ratus. For more information about jamu gendong click here

RICE

2008-05-27T23:25:00.007+07:00

pic from intaniasalsa

Rice (Oryza sativa)is the main food for Javanese and most indonesians (drier eastern indonesia have sagu and sweet potatoes). Lots of rituals and traditions here actually made for rice worshipment, so it is called that we have a rice culture.

The term 'rice' if translated to bahasa indonesia have a pretty long list depends on its state. The rice plant is padi (paddy) and grown in the watered field (sawah). The grain is gabah, which is rice with palea/skin. After the skin peeled (in ancient time we hammered it with alu and lesung) it become beras (raw rice grain). After cooked/steamed we called it nasi.

The rice goddes is Dewi Sri, fertility symbol, and lots of rituals and offerings are made for her.

pic from kaskus

Traditional tool to pick rice while harvesting is ani-ani.

pic from
seasite

There are so many types of rice: white, red, black, glutenous, aromatic, dry, moist, smaller grains, bigger grains. Besides nasi, rice can be cook in many different ways. After milled it became tepung beras (rice flour) to make traditional cakes, chips, wrap in leaves and so on. And we havent talk the rice rules for beauty regime, yet.

Javanese post-natal treatment

2008-05-14T01:00:00.000+07:00

Javanese women have their secret for post natal body treatment. 7 days after the delivery they put tapel (tah-pehl), mixture of slaked limestone, lime juice, betel leaf and cajuput oil on their stomach. Afterwards, bengkung (behng-koong), cotton wrap of 15 cm wide and 10 meters long binded tightly around the tummy (below breast to hip area). The binder sits there all day, and taking off in the afternoon for a hot shower to cleanse. This treatment repeat daily for 40 days.

Pilis (peelees) is a forehead mask for relieving head ache and restore vision. Parem (pah-reamp) is a water based lotion of rice, ginger and pepper to warms legs and arms and ease the blood circulation. With all the treatment mom’s body will back to initial shape very soon as it is before pregnancy and have a good overall health. Indonesian jamu manufacturers such Nyonya Meneer, Jamu Iboe and Simona have a complete post natal jamus package for no fuss home treatment.

Tuberose

2008-05-10T23:25:00.004+07:00

Tuberose Polianthes tuberosa L (Sedap Malam, or Night Delicious - because the scents spread heavily at night) is native to Central America. The fragrance is strong, mysterious and seductive and Indonesians usually asociated the scents with female spirits/ghosts. It’s very popular in Indonesia as cut flowers or clustered for bride’s accessories and decoration, traditional rituals and ceremonies. Other type of tuberose flowers is edible and added to kimlo soup.

Tuberose oil is very expensive. This probably because the flower itself have a very good economic value as cut flowers, or maybe because the production process is not widely known. Unlike other essential oils, tuberose oil processed from extraction of fresh flowers, picked before the petals open and mixed with usually hexane solvent.
Tuberose oil is not normally used in aromatherapy but widely used in the perfume industry as a component of good quality perfumes and is said to have narcotic properties, although proper safety data is not available.

Fresh jamu drinks at Toko You

2008-04-20T16:22:00.006+07:00

If you want to try fresh jamu drinks while in Bandung, just go to Toko You, a cafe/diner situated at jalan Hasanuddin, Dago area, just near the Borromeus Hospital.
Beside its cozy ‘warung’ like ambience (warung is a traditional grocery stall) and their butter fried frogs, we can have fresh jamu drinks. At the jamu bar we can order jamu drinks while watching the production process. Theres a lot of fresh tubers and other jamu ingredients inside the big jars on the table.

We can order any jamu drinks including beras kencur (rice and lesser galangan), kunyit asem (turmeric and tamarind), jamu sehat (health tonic) and so on. Just sip the jamu as a refreshment drink, or after meal whatever you like. You can ask it to be hot or cold. They sell jamu in bottles also for take away, no preservatives guaranteed.

stone scrubing

2008-03-18T20:43:00.005+07:00

As i was mention in older post about lulur, the lulur rituals originally performed by royal ladies inside the javanese courts. But ordinary girls outside also have their own way to keep their skin smooth. Theres always the stone.

Small stone from the river, picked carefully by size and smoothness. The shape should be round and the surface suppose to be smooth, with or without pores. Pumice also suitable for this, but have a rougher quality. The next step just rub the stone to skin tenderly while in the shower, and there it is, a scrub in its very basic form.

how to read those stuff?

2008-03-13T09:07:00.003+07:00

Just come across my mind that lots of buzz in this blog are not familiar for so many people. So i made a list of javanese and indonesian words and how to read it (I suppose)

Jamu read jah-moo
Lulur read looh-lure
Luluran read looh-looh-run
Ratus read rah-toos
Boreh read boh-reh
Temugiring read teh-moo-gee-reeng
Jahe read jah-hea
Kencur read kean-choore
Jawa read jah-wah
Bali read bah-lee
Parem read pah-remp

hope this stuff helpful

Boreh body wrap

2008-03-13T08:54:00.004+07:00

Boreh (read: boh-rehe) is a Balinese body mask made from various hot spices to treat fever, headaches, muscle aches and arthritis. Javanese also have just the similar mask called parem (read: puh-raem). This mask gives warm feeling to skin. When applied it gives warmth and comfort for body and mind.
ginger tuber

How to make boreh
1 tsp ginger powder
¼ tsp ground black peper
1 tsp kencur (Kaempferia galanga L.)powder
3 tsp ground rice
2 tbs water or as needed until thick solution formed
Essential oil

To use:
Do the test patch before use, since the mixture can cause temporary redness or itchyness for some people.
Lather the mixture with hand or a clean small paint brush to your body. Avoid sensitive area like armpit, nipples or crotch area. Wrap body with warm bath towel or plastic sheet. Relax for 10 minutes, and shower. Apply body cream afterwards.
Or if you feel cold, just lather this paste to your feet and leave it until dry.

Lerak, soap nut from Indonesia

2008-02-21T20:50:00.004+07:00

In Indonesia our great great grandmother used to wash their clothes with nut called lerak (Javanese) or Sapindus rarak D.C. This nut used for wash the precious batik sheets to maintain its colour and quality. To use this nuts as detergent, the shell must be crashed and put into small burlap bag. Soak and shake it onto a bucket of warm water until a little foam developed. Put the batik sheets/clothes inside and washed it by hands and rinse. This bio soap is so mild it’s very good for colored clothes. Today this plant also on development for agricultural purpose as bio pesticide.

pic from www.naturalnews.com

In this article about revolutionary laundry soap the nut is quite different although its in the same family as java's lerak.
You can find more article about lerak in here, here and here.

jamu

2008-02-02T08:58:00.000+07:00

Jamu is a mix of herbal usually boiled in water for our general health or for medication. The herbal used for this jamu is vary, could be from leafs, roots, tuber, fruit, tree bark or branch. Usually it tastes no good at all. Recipe below is kunyit asam jamu (turmeric and tamarind jamu), which is very popular for women’s health and tastes good.

turmeric and tamarind jamu recipe
1 part grated turmeric tuber
1 part coconut or aren/palm sugar
pinch of salt
smaller amount tamarind fruit

boil all ingredients with water. its recommended to boil it in a pottery pot (kuali tanah) . after cooled down, boiled again to avoid bitterness. sieve the mixture to get the herbal water. cooled it for a hot day.

Ratus

2008-01-09T23:41:00.003+07:00

Ratus is popular now. Lots of spas and salons offer the ‘vagina's ratus’ treatment. This treatment, again, came from Javanese tradition. Ratus is an incense nuggets/chunks made from 8 aromatic ingredients including kemenyan madu, sandalwood chunks, mesoyi, klembak roots, aren sugar, klabet, pucuk and ganti wood.

This incense nugget then sprinkled to charcoal burned in a small pottery stove called anglo. The aromatic fumes then applied to deodorize hair, batik sheets or...vagina. We can combed hair on top of the anglo and let the aromatic fumes deodorizes our hair, put the anglo beneath the laundry line for deodorizing batiks, or put the anglo under the hollow chair to deodorizing vagina. Ratus proved to protect batik sheets from mites and bugs, giving a unique scents and preserve the precious batik sheets on storage.

massage

2007-12-28T23:59:00.000+07:00

Massage therapy has gained a lot of ground as a complement to conventional medicine. Research studies conducted in the past decade have shown that massage has medically beneficial effects – such as lowering blood pressure and increasing oxygen absorption – in addition to its ability to relax both the mind and tense muscle tissue.

Massage therapy is the manual manipulation of the body’s soft tissue to prevent or reduce pain and stress, and to promote health and well-being. The success of massage therapy has spawned many methods, systems and types (e.g., Swedish, shiatsu, trigger point therapies).

All massage therapy involves the manipulation of soft tissue – kneading, pressing or stroking – by a practitioner licensed from an accredited school. Associated with relieving stress and anxiety, massage has been used to supplement the treatment or management of soft-tissue injuries, physiological and emotional disorders, and pain.

People with pre-existing conditions or diseases should consult their physician before undergoing massage therapy. Massage may not be appropriate for certain conditions, including high blood pressure (hypertension) and certain skin conditions.

from http://yourtotalhealth.ivillage.com/massage-therapy.html

lulur recipe

2007-12-21T22:23:00.000+07:00

how to make your own javanese lulur:

1 tbs ground rice
1/2 tbs ground temugiring
3 tbs milk or as needed
1 tbs honey
5 drops essential oil (patchouli, vetiver or sandalwood)

if you cant find temugiring, you can substitute this with grated coconut/grated bengkoang/oatmeal/ground coffee or combine 3 ingredients together. well its not like a real javanese lulur, but still you can get the good result from this.

lather the paste to your body, scrub until dries and fell off. wash off with warm water. apply body lotion afterwards.
Do this once a week for best result.

Patchouli oil in aromatherapy

2007-12-18T21:07:00.001+07:00

Patchouli oil is an essential oil, and is used in today's aromatherapy and has been used through history for it's healing properties.

Patchouli is a bush with furry leaves and purplish white flowers that are known to quickly drain the nutrients from the soil in which it grows. It can grow up to three and half feet tall and it has large fragrant leaves. Patchouli is sought after for it antiseptic, deodorant, and as a tonic for the nervous system. It can be found in India, the Philippines, China, Malaysia, and Paraguay. Patchouli’s essential oil is extracted by steam distillation from its leaves. It is used for its antidepressant, anti-inflammatory, antiseptic, antiviral and sedative properties. This essential oil is best used when aged and it has a spicy aroma. Patchouli is often blended with other fine essential oils like bergamot, Clary sage, ginger, lavender and vetiver.

Patchouli has been used throughout the centuries and in different cultures. The word Patchouli originated in Hindustan. It has been used in many cultures to prevent the spread of diseases and infections. With it high quality of anti-viral properties it has been used to diminish nausea, headaches, colds, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. Patchouli was introduce to the British culture in the 1820’s here it become a favorite with midwifes for it’s cleansing abilities. In the 1960’s patchouli became in great demand again for use as a body perfume.

In today’s popular aromatherapy it is used to stimulate the appetite, for diarrhea, and it’s balancing effect on the endocrine system. It is great for the skin it reduces inflammations such as acne, eczema, athlete’s foot, fungal infections and dandruff. Patchouli is also good for the emotions, it has an effect of balancing upset emotions and calming the nerves from an upset situation. It helps you remain in control of your emotions instead of emotions controlling you. It is very useful in controlling depression; anxiety and all stress related emotions.

There is a caution when using Patchouli, do not use in large amounts due to it is a powerful sedative.

from essortment

"Cool Powder" or..cooling powder?

2007-12-12T20:54:00.001+07:00

pic from travelblog

Sebelum heboh-heboh global warming, perempuan indonesia sudah sadar untuk melindungi wajah dari sengatan matahari tropik di indonesia. Sekali lagi yang dipercaya untuk melindungi kulit wajah adalah beras.

Dengan dicampur air tepung beras dioleskan kewajah, jadilah bedak dingin, yang berfungsi untuk menahan sengatan matahari langsung ke wajah, menghaluskan, menghilangkan masalah-masalah kulit dsb. Penggunaan bedak dingin ini hampir merata di semua kepulauan di indonesia. Keajaiban beras pada saat ini telah digali oleh kosmetik SK II yang mengeluarkan seri perawatan dengan beras sebagai bahan aktif nya.

Before the global warming issues, Indonesian women knows already how to protect their face from tropic Indonesian sun. Again, the trusted agent is rice.

Mixed with water, the ground rice solution called bedak dingin (cooling powder) lathered onto face until dries, becoming all day mask. This mask is a sunscreen, also smoothes and curing skin problems. this beauty habit can be found in all islands of Indonesia. The rejuvening qualities of rice now applied in modern cosmetic like SK II which now launch series of anti aging treatment with rice as their active ingredients.

scrub it

2007-12-08T22:52:00.000+07:00

Body scrubs should be a part of skin care routine. Not only do they slough off dead skin cells, they increase circulation and leave the skin smooth and moisturized. They are used to prevent ingrown hairs before they happen by opening the pores and allowing hair follicles to freely develop new hairs above the skin's surface.

Homemade body scrubs have one advantage: they can be customized so they provide the best effects. You can change the frangrances by changing the essential oils you add to them. Apply a moisturizer (body lotion) for best results.

massage oil

2007-12-04T09:07:00.000+07:00

any oil can be used as a massage oil. but the best oil usually comes from plants (as opposite of oil that comes from earth or mineral oil) like corn, coconut, olive, avocado, palm etc.

but this oil usually too thick and heavy and not very comfort for skin so it usually mixed with some thin mineral oil. again, to enchance this oil and to give a nice smell too, we can add a few drops of essential oils in it. since almost all essential oils a good benefit for skin, we can use almost any essential oil, altough some is not recommended such as anything from orange (can cause photosensitivity to the skin). but this is hard to avoid since the smell is soo nice.

Essential oils

2007-12-01T16:42:00.000+07:00

essential oil is extracted from aromatic plants. it can comes either from flower, leaf, root or other part of the plant. this aromatic oil claimed to have therapeutic qualities. so therapy with this oil called aromatherapy.

to enhance the luluran experience (lulur is the scrub paste, then luluran means scrubbing with lulur paste or...luluring?) essential oil is added to lulur mixture as well as for the massage oil. but this oil is not easy to get and their price is not cheap.
indonesia have a lot of aromatic plants, but only few was extracted comercially. one that is common is patchouli oil that comes from nilam herbs. in jawa barat nilam farm can be found around subang and garut. click here to know more about destillation process and essential oils.

shop for herbs and spices in bandung

2007-12-01T00:43:00.000+07:00

if you live in bandung and looking for jamu (natural medicine) ingredients or rare spices either for food recipes or medication, baba kuya is the place. the store situated in crowded old chinese area behind pasar baru bandung, at jalan pasar selatan (or is it timur?)

i think baba kuya means mister turtle, while baba is like uncle or sir in chinese slang. and the big old turtles still there hanging on the wall. this narrow street crowded with angkot, becak and pedestrians while the sidewalk packed with all kind of stalls. so the best way to go there is to park your car at the train station parking area, and take a walk from there.
this store stocks lots of indonesian spices and herbs in powder or dried form. i think this place is a hundred years old.

temugiring

2007-12-01T00:00:00.001+07:00

This is a picture of dried temugiring. this roots plant gives subtle yellowish color to skin - which is prefered for almost all indonesia ladies - without makes yellow stain in clothes. the substitute for this root is kunyit (turmeric), also gives yellowish color to skin but not clothes friendly. the stain will be there forever.

LULUR TREATMENT

2007-11-29T22:43:00.001+07:00

lulur treatment is a traditional javanese body scrub. brides to be usually have this treatment 40 days before the wedding day to prepare for the big day.
lulur is made from rice and temugiring (sometimes with other herbs) blend together and mixed with water. this paste like mixture then rubbed and scrubbed to entire body until it dries and fell off together with skin impurities.
this treatment can make skin clearer and smoother.