In search of Bissu shamans: Still letting the spirits move them

In search of Bissu shamans: Still letting the spirits move them

Sharyn Graham
Contributor
Auckland, New Zealand

As assorted officials and participants in suits and formal
attire clustered together in the room, a group of colorfully
dressed people, their faces heavily made up, stood out from the
rest.

I was glad to see them: This was an international conference,
sponsored by the local Barru government in South Sulawesi, and
Bissu transgender shamans had been hired as the welcoming
committee.

It happened only last year, providing proof that these people,
whose fortunes have waxed and waned along with those of their
Bugis society, are back at center stage as honored citizens in
the country's reformasi (reform) era.

The Bugis of South Sulawesi are renowned as hardy seafarers, a
people whose ingenuity, adaptability to adverse circumstances and
mettle have helped them successfully migrate throughout the
Indonesian archipelago.

Lost in the revisionism of history -- the tidying up of facts
to present a version of events more "acceptable" to the sterile
standards of the Soeharto regime -- is the story of the Bissu.

In 1998, two friends and I boarded an overcrowded Pelni ship
taking us from Bali to Sulawesi. While my friends were curious
about local foods and customs, I was on a mission to learn more
about the bissu priests.

At that point, all I knew about the bissu was what Christian
Pelras mentions in his authoritative book, The Bugis. I knew that
they used to work for the ruling raja and bestow blessings on
people, becoming possessed by a spirit that descended from the
spirit world.

During our three-day voyage, we had plenty of opportunity to
talk to locals. If they did know about the bissu, they said they
no longer existed or were so few in number to count.

I was intrigued if this was true, and if the efforts of the
Dutch to destroy the Bugis kingdoms -- where the Bissu found
their place at court -- and then the methods of the central
government since the 1950s had indeed led to the demise of the
Bissu in modern society.

But upon arriving in the South Sulawesi capital of Makassar,
we met some bissu, much to the surprise of the driver provided by
a family friend. We then decided to head up north to Segeri, the
reputed cultural home of the bissu.

"The prominence of the bissu in Segeri dates from 1776, when a
prince of Lawu settled there ... and brought with him a number of
bissu, who were otherwise limited to the powerful courts of Bone,
Wajo and Luwu itself," Anthony Reid writes in The Road North To
Parepare in Sulawesi.

For many anthropologists, the bissu are fascinating because
they are transgender (often called transvestite) shamans, similar
to the berdache of native American society and the hijra of
India. Like the reog traditional dancers of Ponorogo, East Java,
who traditionally took young men as their "wives", the bissu are
a subject of interest because they seem to confirm the presence
of transgender acceptance in traditional societies.

But I was to learn that the Bissu are still expected to be
ascetic, and this means that they are not permitted to marry, or
partake in any sexual relationships.

We spent some time in Segeri, but we were informed that if we
really wanted to learn about bissu and their practices, we would
have to travel further north to the town of Pare-Pare.

When we arrived in Pare-Pare, we were directed to the home of
one of the highest-ranking bissu priests in South Sulawesi. He
invited us to witness a ceremony.

It took a week for the ceremony to be arranged as seven bissu
had to travel from all over the province.

On the day that the ceremony was to be performed, the bissu
rose early. The bissu began the arduous task of assembling all
the paraphernalia and assorted foods that they would need for the
ceremony: bales of hay, a water pond, decorations, collections of
rice, coconuts, herbs, and spices.

This preparation took most of the day. As the sun set, and the
Islamic call to prayer echoed through the town, the bissu began
to ready themselves for the ceremony by applying ritual make-up
and dressing in their sacred clothing.

In order to conduct the ceremony, the ultimate aim of which
was to bestow a blessing on the three of us, the bissu had to be
possessed by an appropriate deity. In order to awaken the deities
and call them to earth, the bissu performed an elaborate ritual
involving chanting, music and the offering of ritual foods.

Once the deities had been awakened, they descended and
possessed the body of the bissu. The bissu were already in trance
by this stage and their entire demeanor changed when they got
possessed by the deities; they become irritable and aggressive.

In order to prove to us that they were possessed -- proof that
we required so we would know the blessing would be successful --
the bissu performed the ma'giri, a self-stabbing ritual. They
took a sacred sword -- the most sacred swords were those that had
been passed down through many generations of bissu -- and
attempted to penetrate their skin with it.

Some of the bissu even went to the extent of lying on the
floor with the sword pressed to their throat. The other bissu
tried to force the sword into their palms and temple. Because the
sword did not penetrate the skin, we were told that the bissu
were kebal (impenetrable) -- a sign that they were possessed by a
powerful spirit and were thus invulnerable.

Now possessed, the bissu blessed us, thus ensuring that we
would have a safe journey back to Australia.

The next morning I got the chance to talk with some of the
bissu about life in contemporary Indonesia. They told me that the
popularity of bissu has waxed and waned over the last few hundred
years. At present, however, they said that their practices are
undergoing a revival in popularity. This is due in large part to
the new era of reformation and the increasing appeal of adat
(traditional custom)s.

The bissu told me that in the past they used to guard the
palace of the Bugis kings and protect the royal family. But with
the disbanding of the royal courts in South Sulawesi in 1957,
noble-dominated kingdoms were abolished and replaced by the
centralized national government. This meant that the bissu had to
change many of their practices in order for them to have a role
in contemporary society.

From my experience, including another year and a half studying
the bissu, they are accepted in modern society, particularly
since the end of the Soeharto government and the freeing up of
attitudes across Indonesian society. I never witnessed any overt
discrimination; in fact, bissu were actively incorporated into
many social functions.

While bissu still perform many traditional blessings -- for
instance, bissu bless the rice fields, royal weddings and the
birth of a baby -- bissu have incorporated new blessings into
their social role. As well as official ceremonies like the one I
attended last year, the bissu are also called upon to bless
people about to undertake the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

It's been a long journey back, but the bissu have returned to
where they belong at the heart of Bugis society.

The writer is a lecturer in the School of Social Sciences at
Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand. Her doctorate
explored issues of gender in South Sulawesi.