Traditional Javanese 'mitoni' ceremony has different styles<\/p>\n
By Ridlo Aryanto<\/p>\n
KLATEN, Central Java (JP): Tradition grows in line with the
\ncultural progress of society. In Java, especially Yogyakarta and
\nCentral Java, all stages of human existence pass through slametan
\n(a ritual held as a token of gratitude for surviving danger or
\nbad luck and to ask divine blessing).<\/p>\n
\"The Javanese culture indeed inculcates the community with the
\nprinciple of golek slameting dhiri (pursuing safety in life and
\nsalvation of the soul hereafter), so that all forms of
\nthanksgiving aim at personal, family and communal safety,\" says
\nKarkono Partokusumo, a Javanologist from Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
One of Java's traditional rites which still exist is mitoni,
\nfor the safe passage of a woman's first seventh-month pregnancy.
\n\"The Javanese believe that a seven-month-old infant has got a
\nsoul, whose security should be celebrated. And the first child is
\nsaid to bring good luck to the family and other siblings,\" he
\nsays.<\/p>\n
Like other traditional ceremonies, mitoni is practiced in
\ndifferent fashions in different regionalities, as the saying goes
\n\"so many places, so many customs.\"<\/p>\n
In Klaten, Central Java, for instance, mitoni is held in the
\nfront yard on a mat, like the one taking place in Jimbung Lor
\nvillage, Kalikotes, in the first week of March 2001.<\/p>\n
The outdoor ceremony \"symbolizes the common people's humble
\nattitude and their expression of gratitude to God. They belong to
\nthe lower class and live in simplicity, while only those of the
\nroyal family or nobility deserve indoor or court rituals,\" said
\nKrido Hartono, a Jimbung community figure who threw the mitoni
\nparty.<\/p>\n
Unlike the royal mitoni ceremonies in Yogyakarta and Solo, the
\ncelebration in Jimbung was a modest event, using no formal
\ncostume or equipment, and the pregnant woman was only clad in her
\ndaily dress.<\/p>\n
It started with a kenduri (ritual gathering with meals and
\nreligious prayers), attended by neighbors. Its leader sat cross-
\nlegged on a wooden pestle for pounding rice, representing the
\nremoval of evils and disasters, and the woman had a seat at the
\nside of the gathering.<\/p>\n
Among the uba rampe (offerings) served on the occasion were
\ntraditional snacks, red and white taffy (reflecting physical
\nstrength), and two yellow-hulled coconuts bearing the pictures of
\nwayang (shadow puppet) figures, the famous pair Arjuna and
\nSumbadra.<\/p>\n
This pair, according to Hartono, symbolizes the parents' hope
\nfor the appearance and traits of their coming baby: if it's a
\nboy, he should be handsome and chivalrous like Arjuna and if a
\ngirl, she should be beautiful and faithful like Sumbadra.<\/p>\n
Following the kenduri, the pregnant mother was guided by
\nvillage elders for a bathing ritual with water from seven wells
\n-- her own and her neighbors'. \"It's a symbol that the baby, upon
\nits birth, is blessed by the whole family as well as all
\nneighbors,\" said Nyi Wiryotowi, a woman elder conducting the
\nbathing.<\/p>\n
The two coconuts offered were thereafter split and part of
\ntheir water was drunk by the expectant mother, in the hope that
\nthe good characters of Arjuna and Sumbadra would be absorbed by
\nthe infant's soul. \"Virtue and security are what this ceremony is
\nall about,\" Krido Hartono pointed out.<\/p>\n
The same tradition has diverse forms in different areas. Both
\nin Yogyakarta and Central Java, mitoni accommodates the same gist
\nbut it is manifested and furnished in different ways. In Bantul,
\nfor example, this rite is more popularly called tingkeban.<\/p>\n
In this Bantul-style ceremony, lasting from 7 p.m. until 9
\np.m., the woman and her spouse are bathed first, before being
\ndressed in separate places like a royal lady and a prince, with
\nunofficial costumes.<\/p>\n
Both are later brought together for a janur (young coconut
\nleaf) cutting. The wife wears a janur wreath round her neck, and
\nthe man approaches her to slash the leaves with a kris. Their
\ndresser immediately tosses an egg, amid the audience's applause.<\/p>\n
Kulonprogo has just about the same tingkeban, the only
\ndifference being the additional procession prior to the janur
\ncutting. The couple is taken round the ritual place accompanied
\nby petal-strewing, which is conducted by an elder or dresser for
\nthe purpose of purging the house of evils.<\/p>\n
\"In spite of the wide variety, the seventh-month pregnancy
\nritual forms have the same essence, that is to seek material and
\nspiritual salvation for the pair, the would-be child and the
\nwhole family,\" said cultural expert Suryanto Sastroatmodjo.<\/p>\n
Whatever manifestations may be, they eventually point to the
\nfact that Javanese cultural wisdom always fosters equilibrium
\nbetween pursuits of the body and the soul. \"Mitoni or tingkeban,
\ntherefore, serves as evidence of the Javanese community's
\ndetermination to maintain this wisdom, notwithstanding the lack
\nof accommodation in modern life,\" he added.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/traditional-javanese-mitoni-ceremony-has-different-styles-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}