Push comes to shove at carriage washing ritual

By Tarko Sudiarno

YOGYAKARTA (JP): A woman slowly shook her head as she watched the frenzied crowd before her.

"It's against religion ... Has everybody gone crazy? ... It's hard to believe that all of them are scrambling to collect dirty water," she said, her accent revealing she was a visitor from Jakarta.

She was watching the ritual washing of Yogyakarta Palace's most famous royal carriage at Ratawijayan Carriage Museum here last Friday.

For her, the sight of people scrambling over each other to drink the dirty water or wash their face with it was hard to stomach. There were no concerns about hygiene, for the people believe the water brings luck because of its magical qualities.

This annual rite takes place in the month of Sura on the Javanese calendar. Locals say the water, known as lorodan, is invested with magical powers because it was used to wash one of the palace's heirlooms, the carriage called Kanjeng Nyai Jimat which is believed to be blessed.

Hundreds of people from Magelang, Temanggung, Wonosobo and Banyumas came to receive blessings in an act known as Ngalap Berkah.

Dozens of them had been waiting and praying near the carriage since Thursday night.

At precisely 10 a.m., an offering of burning incense was placed before the carriage, which had been readied in the central chamber of the museum. Then the head coachman of the palace, KRT Kudowijoyo, symbolically cleaned the carriage with a white handkerchief.

The carriage, still grand but whose paint has faded over the years, was slowly taken out of the room and into the courtyard. The royal vehicle had barely come to stop before visitors began vying with each other to touch its body.

High ranking court servants began to clean the carriage, first with dry white handkerchiefs and then with wet cloth.

And then the scramble began as visitors tried to get the water. Every time the court servants wrung the wet cloth, the visitors rushed to the vat where the water collected, frequently causing the water to spill.

Visitors who were not robust enough to jostle with the others were content to collect the water that flowed into nearby gutters. "This water can rejuvenate you," said Mrs. Kromo of Bantul, Yogyakarta, who washed her face as soon as she collected the water.

Tukino of Temanggung, Central Java, came with five of his friends. They grow tobacco on the slopes of Mt. Sumbing.

"I believe the water has the power to make our tobacco plants grow well. Every year my friends and I come here to witness this rite," he said.

Tukino and his friends had a strategy for collecting the water. Well-built, Tukino went ahead of his friends, taking along a plastic bag. After filling the bag with the water, he passed it to his friends, who poured the water into a five-liter plastic jerrycan that each of them had brought. This went on until all their six jerrycans were filled.

Suwarto from Secang, Magelang also believes the water has magical properties. "I will keep it to make my goods sell well," said the batik trader.

There are at least two versions of when the carriage was made. The first version says it was made between 1750 and 1760 in the Netherlands and was later presented to Sultan Hamengkubuwono I as a gift by Jacob Mossel, the then Dutch governor general.

The second version says it was made between 1811 and 1816 in England and was presented to Sultan Hamengkubuwono III.

The carriage was used until the reign of Sultan Hamengkubuwono V and has since been kept in the palace as one of the royal heirlooms. Many people still revere the carriage and on certain days, offerings such as pisang raja (large sweet bananas) are laid before the carriage.

The museum also holds other ancient carriages which are kept to the west of Sitihinggil Hall at the palace. One of them is Kyai Garudayekso. It was made in the Netherlands in 1861 during the reign of Sultan Hamengkubuwono VI. This carriage is used for processions during coronations.