Tangled hair a blessing from God and sign of good fortune

By Ahmad Solikhan and Ali Budiman

WONOSOBO (JP): Blown by the wind, thick fog moved in a long procession above the Dieng plateau, Wonosobo, Central Java, blocking the sun's rays completely. The cold cut to the bone. For the locals, mostly farmers, cold weather is something they have to endure every day.

That morning two small girls with tangled hair were joking with each other and running along the dike between the rice fields. Their mothers were busy digging up vegetables -- potatoes, cabbages and carrots -- to be sold in the market. Komariah, 10, and Haryati, 5, don't care about the crown of tangled hair on their heads. Neither does it make them feel embarrassed when they are with their peers.

Their tangled hair will remain disheveled and dirty, like the wool of a sheep, although it is shampooed every day. No one dares cut this hair unless the children themselves ask to have it cut.

Locals believe that if there is someone in a family with tangled hair, this is a blessing from God. According to them, tangled hair indicates the reincarnation of Kiai Kaladite who, with his supernatural powers, brings good fortune.

The story goes that in his adventures Kiai Kaladite, along with two friends, Kiai Malik and Kiai Karim, cleared a forest in order to convert it into a residential area. This area, located in the valley between Mount Sindoro and Mount Sumbing, is now divided into three parts: Kiai Kaladite in the Dieng area, Kiai Karim bordering the River Beber, and Kiai Malik in Wonosobo. These three kiai are believed to have had great supernatural powers and been assigned to propagate Islam.

As a child having tangled hair is believed to be the reincarnation of someone with supernatural and divine powers, locals do not dare to take the initiative to cut the child's hair.

Muhtafin, 50, Jengkol village's community elder, recalled a story of a family in Patang Banteng in Dieng. The father, who resented the tangled hair of his 7-year-old son, decided to cut it even though the son had not requested it. Strangely, the scissors were unable to cut the hair and the boy became seriously ill afterwards. It cost the father a lot of money to cure his son.

According to Muhtafin, tangled hair is found in 10 percent of the 172 families in Jengkol village and it is usually found among girls. He denied, however, that this was due to a genetic factor because it is believed the tangled hair comes from Kiai Kaladite. A similar phenomenon is also found in villages to the north of Wonosobo like Garung, Menjer, Tieng, Wadas Putih, Patang Banteng and Batur where there are a lot of bajang children, namely dwarfish children with tangled hair.

Whether or not a child will have tangled hair, Muhtafin said, is evident before he or she is 35 days old. If tangled hair must be cut, a procession complete with offerings must be conducted by the village elder as an expression of gratitude to Kiai Kaladite for his blessings.

Take, for example, the family of the 33-year-old Wangkinah who live in Jengkol village. All her three children, Arifin, 13 years old, Komariah, 10 years old and Haryati, 5 years old, have tangled hair.

Arifin and Komariah have had their tangled hair cut against their wishes. They asked their mother for money and a goat, which she managed to provide, but had to borrow money for the purpose.

Before the tangled-hair-cutting procession began, Wangkinah had to consult the village elder about an auspicious day for the procession. If the procession was held on an inauspicious day, the guardian spirit of the village would have got angry. Wangkinah herself was surprised to find that, after the procession, her children's hair became untangled.

"I used to have tangled hair when I was younger," said Wangkinah, who was educated only up to elementary school level.

Suharno, Wonosobo regional administration information officer, is in charge of providing health advice to the locals. He suggests that parents whose children have tangled hair must pay extra attention to its cleanliness. If long hair is not well taken care of it can easily cause infections on the scalp.

Depending on the weather in a particular area, tangled hair comes in different forms. It can be curly, frizzy, tasseled or straight.

Hair can be tangled because it is never cut and taken care of. But one can also have tangled hair because of the presence of a high percentage of chlorine and the specific climate in a particular area or because of a genetic factor.

Locals, however, do not usually care about these reasons because to them tangled hair means the reincarnation of Kiai Kaladite.