Mother Nature honored in annual rite
Tarko Sudarno, The Jakarta Post, Yogyakarta
"Visit our village on Sunday. There will be all kinds of festivities and we will dine together. Afterwards, we may go to the Semar cave or visit Sendang Pancuran spring to take a bath and wish that we get a pretty wife," said a boy from the village of Tunggul Arum on the southern slopes of Mt. Merapi, some 40 kilometers north of Yogyakarta in Central Java.
The boy was right. On Sunday, April 14, 2002, or Sapar 1st in the Javanese calendar, the villagers of Tunggul Arum organized a village rite called Merti Bumi.
Early in the morning on that Sunday, a festive mood was already in the air. The women were busy cooking, while the men were engrossed preparing ancak bamboo, a bamboo container used to carry the dishes in.
However, it was the children who were busiest of all, scampering here and there. Finally, the day they had dreamed of for quite a while had arrived. They flitted to and fro, playing around the village hall. Once in a while, they came close to the giant rice cone or gunungan placed in the middle of the building. They seemed impatient for the festivities to begin.
The Merti Bumi rite is in honor of mother earth and is annually conducted by the inhabitants of Tunggul Arum village during the Javanese month of Sapar.
This year, for the first time, the rite was held on a grander scale than usual. It was held at the site of the village where they used to live, before Mt. Merapi erupted in 1961 and threatened the settlement, which meant the inhabitants had to be evacuated to this new village called Tunggul Arum.
It is to express their thanks to God for keeping them away from the volcanic eruption of Mt. Merapi, that the villagers organize Merti Bumi each year. This rite, believed to have been passed down by their ancestors, is also intended to express their gratitude to God for bestowing upon them fertile soil and an abundance of water on the slopes of Mt. Merapi.
"The good fortune bestowed upon us is reason enough for us to express our gratitude to God. We must always reflect upon the existence of Tunggul Arum. This is the way in which we can always remember our ancestors for their hard work in setting up this village," said Subardi, one of the elders of Tunggul Arum in his welcoming address.
The procession begins from the village hall. Two gunungan, plus multifarious offerings were paraded around the village and then proceeded to the old village. Leading the procession were the carriers of the heirlooms, namely kyai tunggul wulung spears and kyai pring wali canes. After them came ulemas, carriers of the gunungan, a group of people carrying nasi bancakan, numbering about 150 people, then lay villagers and finally the art troupe.
During the procession, which covered a distance of some 3 kilometers, the line of villagers extended some 500 meters. All the way, there was accompanying music from various instruments like tambourines, jathilan gamelan and hymns were sung.
About half an hour later, the procession came to a flat- looking dry field. Locals call this place plataran, meaning a spacious yard, In the middle of this plataran stood quite a large bamboo altar, on which two gunungan and hundreds of small cone- shaped rice dishes prepared by each participating village family were placed.
When everything was ready, a dance depicting offerings was performed by the local village maids to signal the beginning of this rite. They danced while spreading roses around the altar, after which the village representatives said a prayer to God.
As soon as the prayer was finished, the villagers rushed to collect for themselves the two gunungan containing various crops such as Zalacca palm fruit, avocado, pineapple, rose apples and rice cones. They elbowed their way, pushing and shoving, even scolding each other to get their share of gunungan. Yet, when the whole thing was over, they remained as friendly to each other as ever.
What they had obtained through pushing and shoving was finally eaten together. Then hundreds of rice cone dishes were equally distributed to those present.
"Next year, we will organize this rite again. The district tourism service has included this rite in Sleman district's tourism calendar," said Tomon HW, a Merapi slope activist.
A tourist visiting this area may savor the beauty of our natural surroundings, which includes a cave and a spring. "The spring is called Sendang Pancuran and the cave, Gus Semar. These two places have attracted a lot of tourists. More tourists will come here if local tourism is better organized."
Local people believe these two places possess magical properties. Water from the spring can help you remain young and obtain a partner for life. The calm, subdued atmosphere of the cave is the right place for meditation.
Local beliefs aside, the Merti Bumi rite and the beauty of the natural surroundings allows you to reflect upon the beauty of a life.