Shocking snake spectacle steals the show at 'Sekaten' fair
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.