Javanese New Year rituals start Thursday
Damar Harsanto, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
As the Islamic New Year, also known as the Javanese New Year, is coming tomorrow, many Javanese people start performing their tradition to celebrate the holiday with certain rituals that might surprise "modern" people.
Not only do they fast and pray. Washing weapons, especially the heirlooms, is a must.
"Weapons, like keris (Javanese dagger) and spear, symbolize the body needs to be cleansed from all wrongdoings in order to be ready to receive blessings from God," Sri Lestari, head of the Weapon Museum in Indonesia in Miniature Park (TMII) in East Jakarta, said on Wednesday.
Alluding to the recent floods as a sign of the nature, Sri revealed that the celebration was a good opportunity to ponder the people's faults and renewed intention to repent their wrongdoings.
"Starting tomorrow, I will fast for three days, and have an intensive personal prayer to reflect upon all what I have done wrong during the bygone year," she said.
Taman Mini is organizing a one-month long event to celebrate the holiday, from a shadow puppet (wayang) show, heirloom washing and exhibition to a concert featuring local artist Rhoma Irama, who will perform Muslim songs.
Weapon vendors at Rawabening market in Jatinegara, East Jakarta are expected to sell more weapons.
"Our sales should jump considerably, selling five keris in the Suro month from only one or two a month at other times," Roem, 45, a keris vendor said.
Roem said he sold keris at between Rp 150,000 and Rp 4 million each, depending on its material.
Roem who came from East Java, said he ran his business since his childhood and his ancestors worked as traditional sheathmakers (mranggi).
Aside from purchasing the new weapons, it has been tradition among Javanese to wash their weapons during the month. The weapons are washed in water with seven types of flowers (kembang setaman), magic spells, and sulphur water.
"We also accept orders to wash the weapons," said Hengki, 30 another vendor.
He charged people who want to have a keris washed between Rp 25,000 and Rp 30,000.
Noted scholar Mochtar Buchori commented that mysticism in the rituals was a symbol of the immaturity of the people's religiosity here.
"Such practice is a clear form of syncretism between Islam religion and Javanese culture," he said.
However, he admitted that the practices were a common collective process of the people in search of their existential security for themselves.
"If the people's faith in their own religions and God are half-baked, they will seek another protection from other-than-God suprahuman agencies, like in keris or other weapons which are considered sacred," he said.
It is tradition to celebrate the first day of Muharam (in calendar) or first day of Suro month (in Javanese calendar) dated back to the reign of Sultan Agung Hanyakrakoesoema who ruled in the 19th century in Mataram kingdom, which was then divided into two kingdoms, Kasultanan Yogyakarta and Kasunanan Surakarta.
It was aimed to pacify the two major groups of Hinduism and Islam believers at that time by adopting a lunar system of Islamic calendar of Hijrah instead of solar system which is used in Hinduism (Saka calendar system). The new calendar system started from 155 years of Saka calendar system.