Caici: A rare, hair-raising profession

By Ida Indawati Khouw

JAKARTA (JP): These women can only be found during the funeral of ethic Chinese Buddhists. In the crowd they stand out for their black robes.

They are often called "chanters" because throughout the funeral they chant prayers to the sound of music consisting of cymbals and gongs in a room filled with the smell of flowers and burning incense.

In Chinese, they are called caici (literally means vegetarian girl) or caima for the older woman, and praying for the dead is their lifelong profession.

The ritual often turns into an attractive show for the mourning family members and their guests, especially when the chanters are dancing around the coffin of the deceased.

The women walk around the coffin while praying with burning incense in their hands, followed by the deceased's relatives. They dance near the coffin in a circular formation; their robes billow beautifully.

Aside from dancing and chanting prayers, they are believed to be able to summon the spirits of the dead.

Such rituals are common in various funeral parlors popular among the Chinese, such as those at Gedong Panjang in North Jakarta, Jelambar and on Jl. Daan Mogot -- both in West Jakarta.

There has been no scientific study on these rituals that are practiced by traditional Chinese communities.

What is sure is that they are people who are raised in temples where they learn funeral rituals in accordance with Buddhist tradition, which is strongly influenced by the Chinese tradition.

Most of the caici themselves do not know the history of the rituals.

Teng Ho Hin, a caici from the Vihara Tilakkhana temple in North Jakarta, said that the profession could be traced back to ancient China.

"Folk tales have it that in the past people in China dumped their unwanted baby girls at temples where the babies were then raised to become caici.

"Other stories say that the caici were orphans or the daughters of very poor families who could not afford to raise their children and therefore sent them to the temple," she said.

There are 14 caici groups in Jakarta according to Ho Hin, and most of them are part of a closed society, unlike the one to which Ho Hin belongs.

The 33-year-old woman's parents live in Lampung. She does not know why she was "dumped" at the temple.

"I once met them when I was working in Lampung. Actually, we are not a poor family and there was no apparent reason for them to send me to the temple. They refused to tell me why," she said.

Modern lifestyle

The present-day caici, at least those belonging to Ho Hin's group, live a modern lifestyle. They no longer have to become vegetarians in the strict sense of the word. They become vegetarian only on the first and the fifteenth day of every month according to the Chinese calendar, on the birthday of the goddess Kwan Im and when performing funeral ceremonies.

Their daily activities are just like those of ordinary people, such as going to school and enjoying themselves with their friends.

Their routine activities are saying prayers in the morning and afternoon, attending lectures on funeral ceremonies and taking Mandarin lessons.

"In the past, the rules were strict. For example, it was forbidden to have our hair cut, interact with outsiders -- let alone get married -- and we had to be real vegetarians," said Ho Hin, who goes nowhere without her mobile phone.

In passing on the tradition, usually a senior caici or caima will take along her juniors to ceremonies so that they can learn the traditions by practicing them. Usually, a girl enters the profession in her teenage years.

The funeral ritual is aimed at pleasing the deceased's spirit and to help smoothen its way to heaven.

"It is believed that the deceased's spirit will keep haunting the relatives if they do not perform the ritual," Ho Hin said. "In fact, the main part of the ritual is the prayers while the dancing is only the additional 'spice'".

The caicis' fees are between Rp 5 million and Rp 15 million, depending on the length of the ceremony. Some families want to hire them for the whole ceremony while others hire them only for the coffin-closing, cremation or burial ceremony itself.

As for the ability to summon up the deceased's spirit, Ho Hin said it was God-given and that not every caici had it.

"There is only one in my group who is able to do this," she said, referring to her former caici colleague Wong Ka Hin, who is now the mother of a baby girl.

Not all mourning families request the caici to summon up the deceased's spirit. The relatives may ask the caici to summon up the spirit if the deceased died in suspicious circumstances, such as murder or suicide. Not every attempt to summon the dead is successful, though.

According to Chinese belief, the spirit can give information about the cause of the death, who the killer was or why he/she committed suicide.

"Once, we were asked to summon up the deceased's spirit at the Jelambar (West Jakarta) funeral parlor, about 10 years ago. The spirit suggested that the murderer was in the building but his identity was unclear. A few days later, the police arrested the murderer and we learned that the killer had, in fact, been present at the funeral ceremony," she said.

Ho Hin also said that to live as a caici was, actually, not easy. "I don't think anybody would choose to become a caici if they had the choice. When we don our robes, people avoid us believing that we bring bad luck. That's why we don't call on people when we're wearing our robes."

It is this perception that makes it difficult for caici to find husbands. Usually, the man's parents will be strongly opposed to such a marriage believing that the caici will bring bad luck to the entire family.

But, Jong Fuk Yu, a 35-year-old who married caici Ka Hin two years ago proves this belief to be wrong.

"We have a normal married life and nothing bad has happened to my family," Jong said.

Director of Buddhism at the Ministry of Religious Affairs Cornelis Wowor said that actually caici traditionally performed at other Buddhist rituals, not just funerals.

"They are just like Catholic nuns. Now, they are seen only at funerals, maybe because it earns them money. It's another example of commercialization," he said.