A ritual teaching a prince to eat pudding

A ritual teaching a prince to eat pudding

Blontank Poer, The Jakarta Post/Surakarta, Central Java

While most of the Javanese community in Central Java consider the
first of Suro (month on the Javanese calendar) a sacred day,
villagers of Kendal hamlet celebrate Suro 15, which fell on Feb.
24 this year.

Housewives and girls rise early to cook apem cakes, which are
made of a mixture of fermented sticky rice, rice flour, coconut
milk and vanilla crystals.

In the afternoon, respected, elder members of the community
wash the hamlet's sacred krises of Kyai Jokosuro and Kyai Singkir
Angin with rose water, for use in a parade through the village in
the evening.

"We are preparing for the Wahyu Kliyu ritual," Seman, 66, told
The Jakarta Post.

He was referring to a ritual that locals claim was first
performed 400 years ago. No one, however, is able to provide a
thorough explanation as to where the ritual originated from and
why it was initially performed.

"We don't know where it comes from, but we don't dare miss
it," Seman said, adding that he always performed the ritual under
the instruction of his father and his grandfather.

The ritual itself is performed at midnight. Just before
midnight, therefore, the heads of families take the apem to the
designated place.

They are carried in a bamboo basket, which must be positioned
a bit higher than the navel of the man carrying it. Carrying it
on one's shoulders is highly recommended.

The main ritual, which was held in the village hall this year,
starts with the men throwing the cakes, one-by-one, into a square
box placed on layers of banana leaves.

"Wahyu Kliyu! Wahyu Kliyu!" the men shout every time they
throw a cake.

It is believed that the words Wahyu Kliyu are derived from the
Arabic phrase, Yaqoyu Yaqoyum, which is a request for God's
blessing.

Although the ritual looks simple it is actually very involved:
Only men are allowed to carry the apem cakes and both the baskets
and the cakes must be prepared according to a set of rules.

"We, for example, are not allowed to carry the baskets
lightly in one hand," Seman said.

Each family head is also required to carry a banana leaf. The
number of cakes in each basket must be exactly 344, although no
one could explain why.

Even Jatipuro village head Rakino, 50, confessed that
information was lacking on the unique ritual's history.

"It's all based on tales passed from one generation to the
next. Though, not a single family here dares to
break the tradition and miss one -- anymore," Rakino said.
ominously.

Seman agreed, saying that everyone is really afraid of the
consequences of doing so. He recalled that once a drought had hit
the hamlet after the locals failed to perform the ritual. Since
then, according to Seman, the villagers, who are mostly farmers,
always try their best to perform the apem-throwing ritual.

Some believe the tradition started after a prolonged drought
hit the hamlet hundreds of years ago, causing the earth to crack.
So deep was the crack that people used a bamboo rod to measure
its depth.

Still, the bamboo was not long enough, so a lawe (rope made of
plaited cotton fiber) was tied to the bamboo rod. When the depth
of the crack had been measured,the rope was pulled out. It took
with it a brown iron plate of some five centimeters in diameter
that was later represented by the apem cake.

Another tale says that during the rule of prince Sambernyawa
of Puro Mangkunegaran Palace in Surakarta in 1757, a soldier fled
the then war-torn Surakarta for shelter in the village.

In the village, a widow served him a bowl of steaming hot
pudding made of crushed and hulled grains, or bekatul as it is
locally known. So hot was the pudding that the hungry prince
hesitated to eat it. So, the widow instructed him to start from
the outer part of the pudding, gently skimming the surface, and
work his way in -- until every last morsel had been downed.

When the soldier arrived at the palace and told the prince how
the widow had taught him to eat pudding, the prince interpreted
it as a secret message from the widow, regarding how he could win
the war. He had to paralyze the enemy's forces little by little,
working his way toward victory.

As an expression of gratitude, prince Sambernyawa, who was
later crowned KGPAA Mangkunagoro I, bestowed upon the widow the
honorable title of Rondho Menang or the winning widow, and gave
her a sacred kris named Kyai Jokosuro. It was the shape of the
pudding on the plate.

And, later, cakes called apem were made to remind the people
of how the widow taught the soldier to eat pudding and the prince
won the war.