Caici: A rare, hair-raising profession

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.