Shocking snake spectacle steals the show at 'Sekaten' fair

By Ahmad Solikhan

YOGYAKARTA (JP): As the tape recorder blared well-known songs by pop star Cici Paramida, about nine wild pythons, each weighing between 25 kg and 50 kg, wriggled out of wooden boxes. They hissed and slithered about on a piece of brown canvas measuring 80 square meters, spread on the ground with 50 cm-high wooden planks placed around for safety.

Then, three men wearing red-and-white striped T-shirts started dancing, occasionally placing a snake around their necks or their bodies. One of them, eight-year-old Turhamun, showed no hint of fear, laid himself on his back on top of the large snake. Afterwards, he was placed inside a four-square-meter box with wire netting in which there were various kinds of snakes. An audience of some 100 people, forming a circle, were all enchanted by this spectacle.

Afterwards, a man named Lazim, 20, performed an even more daring stunt. He kissed a King Cobra, to the accompaniment of house music, danced around the audience, sticking his tongue out and letting the cobra bite it until it bled.

The sight was too much for a young girl. She screamed hysterically, breaking the silence of the mesmerized audience, which included dozens of foreign tourists busy with their cameras.

The noise the audience made inside the tobong (limekiln-like space where the performance took place) was still frenetic when Lazim introduced yet another attraction he was about to demonstrate.

He put the head of a small snake, the size of a little finger, into one of his nostrils so that it slid out through his mouth. Many among the audience felt simultaneously repulsed and fearful. Some women, for example, ran out of the tobong before the performance was over.

"The snake show was really horrifying for me," said Risma, with a tremble in her voice.

At the end of the performance, Muhammad Muhyidin, 41, came out, his hands holding two King Cobras deliberately antagonizing them so that he could play around with the snakes. Accompanied by reog music, the traditional music from Ponorogo, East Java, the two cobras kept their heads erect and moved them as if they were in a dance, every second they seemed ready to spit out their deadly venom. This thrilling attraction was successful and the audience scampered out of the tobong, feeling contented.

Muhyidin, who is also the producer of the show, said that the snake performances involve 12 players who come from Lamongan and Tuban, East Java. They, incidentally, also all have family ties with him. Since finding employment is quite difficult nowadays, he had asked them to join his snake group.

He said that a newcomer took only two to three months to train before appearing in a snake attraction. The most important thing is that you must not be afraid of snakes and you must have the skill to dance with them. Before joining any performance, the players are required to drink a certain concoction as protection against the snake's venom. Unfortunately, Muhyidin refused to say any more about this concoction.

Muhyidin said that they had personally caught most of the hundreds of snakes they use for the snake show. Snake hunting, he said, is usually conducted around Tuban and Lamongan. As for pythons, he said he had bought them from Banyuwangi, East Java.

A python costs Rp 25,000 per meter and this snake is at least four meters long. A python kind called sanca is available at Rp 125,000 per meter. This snake is at least five metres long. A sanca is more expensive because its skin can be sold at a high price.

"These two kinds of snakes, now in captive breeding, are on the verge of extinction and their habitat has continued to shrink," Muhyidin said.

A striped snake locally known as welang, which features red and white stripes, do not participate in the snake shows because they are very difficult to tame and because none of the snake charmers are good enough to deal with their lethal venom.

Muhyidin said that his parents had performed with snakes since the 1950s. His father's group, now Muhyidin's, had visited most major cities in Java such as Yogyakarta, Semarang, Bandung, Jakarta, Surakarta and Surabaya, beside Bali and Makassar, South Sulawesi.

"I usually only perform tobong snake shows during certain events such as sekaten," Muhyidin said, referring to the festival held in honor of Prophet Mohammad's birthday.

If the weather is good, a 30-minute snake spectacle can draw an audience of between 50 and 100 people, Muhyidin said. The tickets cost Rp 2,000 per person and every night they can perform four to six performances. On average, they can collect some Rp 750,000 a night.

However, during the rainy season, they can only receive about Rp 200,000 a night. Twenty-five percent of the proceeds will go to the players and the remaining 75 percent will be spent on equipment, accommodation and rent.

"For each trip I have to set a budget of between Rp 10 million and Rp 15 million," Muhyidin said.

Their latest trip lasted a month and ended on June 5. Afterwards, the group will come to Jakarta for the Jakarta Fair, which kicks off in mid-June.

Muhyidin, who began to be involved in snake performances at the age of 15, said that thanks to these snake shows, he could financially support his own family and relatives. "I hope the public will always appreciate our performances," Muhyidin said.