Bissu community glitters in ritual dance<\/p>\n
By I Wayan Juniarta<\/p>\n
TIRTA GANGGA, Karang Asem, Bali (JP): For three decades, they
\nhave been hounded and blamed for violating social and moral
\nethics. Now, the transvestite Bissu community in Sigeri, Pangkep,
\nSouth Sulawesi, is trying to revive its age-old traditions.<\/p>\n
The revival of the Bissu community was manifested in a rare
\nperformance at the recent Milleniart Festival in Tirta Gangga,
\nKarang Asem, East Bali.<\/p>\n
Eight Bissu performed an extraordinary Harvest ritual dance,
\nmesmerizing an audience of thousands at the Tirta Gangga Water
\nPalace.<\/p>\n
Dressed elaborately in glittering costumes, the Bissu
\ntransvestites started their performance with humming ritual
\nhymns.<\/p>\n
They then swayed and moved on the stage imitating farmers in
\nrice fields. The dance was part of the harvest ritual to yield
\ngood crops.<\/p>\n
According to a lecturer at Makassar University, Makassar,
\nSouth Sulawesi, Andi Halilintar Lathief, the Bissu had important
\njobs as the caretakers of various rituals and ceremonies held by
\nthe king and the Bugis community, especially those related to
\nagricultural activities.<\/p>\n
\"This community still carefully keeps a scared arajang to be
\nused in a ritual to start growing and harvesting various crops,\"
\nsaid Andi.<\/p>\n
During the sacred ritual, the Bissu spell out a mantra while
\ndancing in a trance-like condition.<\/p>\n
The dancers began to shock the audience when they stabbed
\ntheir own bodies with kris. Blood spilled out from their bodies.<\/p>\n
A Balinese dancer, Cokorda Sawitri, exclaimed, \"This is
\nincredible. They are in a trance but they can still control their
\nmovements.\"<\/p>\n
Children are not allowed to watch this performance in order to
\nprotect them from bad omens, said Andi.<\/p>\n
There is no fixed evidence on the origin of this Bissu
\ncommunity within the Bugis-Makassar social structure.<\/p>\n
According to Lagagilo, the community's oral traditions, the
\nBissu fell from the \"sky\" to assist the King of Luwu. The word
\nbissu was also unclear. Some say a Bissu is one who has achieved
\ncertain physical and spiritual strata.<\/p>\n
In the community, only a few people can be categorized as
\nbelonging to the Bissu. The Bissu comprise only of males, but
\nphysically they behave, dress and act as women.<\/p>\n
Scholar Taufik Rahzen explained the Bissu become furious if
\npeople compare them to homosexuals. \"For them, becoming a Bissu
\nis the highest spiritual achievement,\" said Rahzen.<\/p>\n
The Bissu claim they are neither male nor female because based
\non their beliefs, the deity and the holy spirits are sexless.<\/p>\n
Such beliefs and attitudes adopted by the Bissu have caused
\nmany an uproar among the Bugis-Makassar society because they
\nconsider this to go against social and religious norms.<\/p>\n
The discontent reached its peak in 1996, during the
\n\"cleansing\" of followers of the Indonesian Communist Party, which
\nwas known as Operation Repent. The Bugis also went after members
\nof the Bissu, some were killed and the rest hid in the province's
\nremote areas.<\/p>\n
A year after this operation, farmers failed to harvest their
\ncrops. People were anxious, thinking that it was a \"curse\" from
\nthe deity for \"cleansing\" the Bissu.<\/p>\n
The Bugis community gradually accepted the existence of the
\nBissu. They began to invite the Bissu to hold harvest rituals in
\nthe hope they could gain higher yields from their crops.<\/p>\n
\"It was the agricultural interest that saved the Bissu
\ncommunity,\" recalled Andi, who has made a comprehensive study of
\nthe Bissu community.<\/p>\n
To regain their social and cultural position, the Bissu also
\nmade compromises. In every ritual, the Bissu invited religious
\nleaders to open the rituals.<\/p>\n
\"Also, there are some Bissu who have performed the haj,\" added
\nAndi. Now, many of the Bissu prefer to be called sanroe
\n(teacher).<\/p>\n
Andi said that during the Bugis Kingdom period, the Bissu
\nplayed significant roles as the king's political advisors and
\nconfidants as well as household keepers of the palace.<\/p>\n
The king often asked for advice before taking important steps
\nor implementing a policy. During a war, the Bissu also acted as
\nthe king's strategic counselors. They decided when the king could
\nattack or retreat from the war, said Andi.<\/p>\n
\"Before giving advice to the king, the Bissu held a ritual. In
\ntrance-like states, they delivered 'messages from above' to the
\nking,\" he explained.<\/p>\n
The king gave a 30-hectare plot of fertile land and rice
\nfields as gifts for their merits.<\/p>\n
Their powerful positions in the royal circle, as well as in
\nthe community, provided both social and economic profits. Most of
\nthe Bissu were economically secure.<\/p>\n
However, Rahzen said that actually, the Bissu had other
\nsubstantial cultural roles in preserving the originality of the
\nBugis-Makassar cultural and literary heritage.<\/p>\n
It was the Bissu who continued to practice the Bugis-Makassar
\noral tradition called Lagaligo.<\/p>\n
During the Lagalilo performance, the Bissu asked 250 people to
\nsing and tell the story and the history of the Bugis-Makassar
\nsociety.<\/p>\n
\"It could be the longest oral literary repertoire to be kept
\nin people's minds,\" Rahzen admired.<\/p>\n
None of the stories have been written in a book or any other
\nprinted form. Yet, the Bissu remember the stories by heart and
\npass their knowledge on to the next generation.<\/p>\n
\"The Bissu also have a different language which is only
\nunderstood and spoken by their own members,\" said Andi.<\/p>\n
Reviving the traditions of the Bissu community is not an easy
\ntask. Their communal properties were seized by the government
\nunder a land reform law.<\/p>\n
Without rice fields and other properties, the Bissu could not
\ngenerate income. What is more, the community has no leader. Their
\nlast Puang Toa (leader) died a few years ago.<\/p>\n
The ritual to select a new leader will cost millions of
\nrupiah, which they do not have now. Besides, so far, nobody fits
\nthe requirements to become a new chief. Included in the important
\nprerequisites is a mastery of various rituals and ceremonies,
\nbeing able to recite from memory the Lagaligo and other social
\nand cultural activities.<\/p>\n
\"Because of the political chaos in l966, the number of Bissu
\nleft is only 20 people,\" said Andi.<\/p>\n
For the Bissu community, the road to survival remains very
\nshaky. Unless help from the government and the Bugis-Makassar
\npeople is forthcoming, they will witness the death of a community
\nwhich has faithfully kept its centuries-old traditions alive.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/bissu-community-glitters-in-ritual-dance-1447893297",
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