'Ruwatan' ritual casts off bad luck

By Heru Prasetya

YOGYAKARTA (JP): Dressed in white, 11 public figures wait for their turn to have their hair cut in a ruwatan ritual led by Javanese shadow puppeteer Ki Timbul Hadiprayitno.

While the 11 were sitting cross-legged on a piece of white cloth spread on a stage, dalang Timbul poured water and flowers over their heads one by one. It was just a quarter after midnight.

The ceremony took place on Aug. 18 at Gadjah Mada University's stadium. Among the some 300 guests were President Abdurrahman Wahid, Yogyakarta Governor Sultan Hamengkubuwono X and the National Police chief General Rusdihardjo.

In the Javanese tradition, ruwatan is meant to spiritually protect somebody or a group of people from bad luck and disaster. People who are considered spiritually "unclean" and thus subject to the rite are called sukerta.

Many of the "sins" which require ruwatan come from traditional beliefs rather than from people's deeds. For example, if you are Javanese and you have all sons, you should follow the rite.

According to Javanese belief, if the sukerta does not undergo the rite, the child will be swallowed by Betara Kala, a frightening ogre representing evil in the Javanese shadow puppetry. The dalang (puppeteer) represents the god Wisnu, the creator of the universe, who saves sukerta.

Last week's ruwatan at Gadjah Mada campus was intended as a ritual to save Indonesia from all possible calamities. The Javanese believe the country is on the brink of disintegration as indicated by the continuing conflicts and crisis.

There are two reasons why 11 people undergo ruwatan. First, the Javanese word for 11 is sewelas, which comes from the word welas, meaning "pity or pardon". Hence, the ritual was meant as a way to ask for divine mercy.

Second, there are 11 waves on the edges of Arjuna's keris (knife). Arjuna is a character in the Javanese puppetry representing the good. His sacred keris, named Nagasasra Sabuk Inten, is believed to have supernatural powers, which can defeat all enemies.

"With this ruwatan we mean to restore the nation's dignity, which is increasingly undermined," said Hariadi Dharmawan, who was also the chairman of the event's organizing committee.

The committee consisted of a group of scholars and individuals from several cities like Yogyakarta, Jakarta, Bandung and Semarang.

In February 1998, they held the same ritual at Gedung Joang 45 in Menteng, Jakarta, presenting a story called Semar Gugat (Semar revolts) in which they questioned why the government turned its back on people's aspirations.

Ruwatan Sukerta 2000 was part of a cultural discussion featuring scholars Koento Wibisono, Hariadi Dharmawan, Mubyarto, and Sultan Hamengkubuwono X as speakers.

The rite was opened by Gadjah Mada rector Ichlasul Amal, who said the event was meant to tell those in the political elite to stop bickering and to defend the people instead.

The Sultan said the rite was no cure for the country's ills but rather to provoke public awareness of the worsening situations facing the country.

That night's story was Sesaji Raja Suya (King Suya's Offerings) which told about why ruwatan is necessary.

The cutting of the 11 people's hair and pouring of water and flowers over their heads was the climax of the show. It was followed by a procession in which the dalang released two pigeons, symbolizing that the threat of evil was over.

The whole procession ended with the distribution of ketupat, rice cake boiled in a rhombus-shaped packet of plaited young coconut leaves.