'Ruwatan', seen as anachronistic, is threatened with oblivion
Indra Harsaputra, The Jakarta Post, Surabaya
Sedekah bumi, an annual ritual to expel evil spirits from a village and bestow on it blessings through prayer, is gradually being abandoned by rural communities as it is regarded as an animistic practice.
The rich smell of incense burned by the elders of Sepat Lidah Kulon village, Surabaya, East Java, was evident as traditional music started up to accompany two dancers.
Moments later, fruit and food as offerings were dropped into an old pool in Sepat Lidah Kulon, marking the start of the ceremony on Monday, Sept. 12.
After reading mantras while dancing, the two sinden (female singers and dancers) chanted several verses in the Central Java dialect near the pool, long believed to be a water spring. But the three-hectare pool is now shrinking with the spread of settlements there.
The song and dance performed by the pair, as local villagers assume, were the favorites of their ancestors. In order to show their reverence for the spirits of their forefathers, the performance has become a ritual to ask for ancestral blessing and preserve local arts now being eroded by globalization.
Following the ritual, young artists and local villagers mingled in a dusk-to-dawn feast, where they also discussed the waning popularity of traditional arts in the village and planned their promotion, notably through the ruwatan (exorcism) ritual.
"This is a form of community wisdom in conserving the environment through local arts," said Heri Lento, an artist from Surabaya and member of the ruwatan organizing committee of Sepat Lidah Kulon, that evening.
Sepat Lidah Kulon people are aware of the importance of harmony with their environment, which is under pressure from the urban expansion of Surabaya. Housing and road construction encroaches on their communal land, where the old pool and wells left behind by their ancestors have become their only source of clean water.
The ritual serves to remind them of the critical state of the pool's water reserve, which forces them to buy drinking water for their daily needs as the natural spring is being eaten away by urban expansion.
Likewise, Lidah Kulon villagers realize the need to preserve traditional arts as part of their identity in the face of advancing globalization. "Some people have abandoned traditions. Urban citizens are becoming too worldly, dismissing rituals that involve mystical forces," Heri indicated.
This, according to Heri, has caused the decline and even demise of East Java's traditional arts like the mask dance in Malang, wayang orang (stage shows based on the Mahabharata and Ramayana epics), as well as ludruk and ketoprak (folk theater).
Some of these are utilized in ruwatan ceremonies.
His view was shared by Kadaruslan, a Surabaya community elder and chairman of Putra Surabaya (Pusura), a social organization in the city founded by national hero Dr. Soetomo.
"The Surabaya community is losing its identity, local spirit and culture," he said.
Affectionately called Cak (brother) Kandar, he explained the loss of Surabaya's identity by quoting a verse from the national anthem Indonesia Raya: "It should be Bangunlah jiwanya, bangunlah badannya (kindle your spirit, waken your body), but instead our body has arisen before our soul is awake. This drowsing spirit refers to our waning culture, including ruwatan."
"Surabaya is preoccupied with development but it concerns the physical rather than spiritual dimension, such as high-rise buildings and public facilities," added the senior city figure.
Mystical rituals of the kind are also known as selamatan desa and bersih desa (thanksgiving rites) in various parts of East Java like Malang, Sidoarjo, Madiun and Gresik.
"The various terms essentially mean ruwatan -- begging for divine blessing and protection as well as deliverance from misfortunes," said Ki Soleh Adi Pramono, an organizer of Malang mask dances and leader of the Mangun Dharma art camp, told The Jakarta Post recently.
Ki Soleh and his wife Karen Elizabeth, born in Wisconsin, Chicago, U.S., have frequently been invited to perform mask dances at ruwatan rituals. Such ceremonies are not only held by villages but also individuals, who wish to obtain a blessing for an event such as a circumcision.
He said that, like the other rites, sedekah bumi had become an inseparable part of Javanese religious activities. In the early history of Java, ancestors also made offerings known as sesaji ageng bedhah bumi before starting to reclaim forested land.
Undeniably, rituals always have something to do with mystical practices. According to Ki Soleh, before such ceremonies begin, some requirements have to be met by community figures, like fasting or praying for spiritual guidance from their forefathers.
Similarly, art performers like sinden and troupe members have to fast for 40 days in order to ensure truly rewarding rituals with abundant blessing, as desired by all those concerned with the spiritual enterprise.