The ups and downs of Sekaten through the ages
The ups and downs of Sekaten through the ages
Held for the first time in the 15th century in the Demak kingdom under the reign of Raden Patah, the Sekaten celebration was especially designed by the wali (pious Muslim leaders) to propagate Islam.
During the celebration, people who wanted to convert to Islam and had an interest in following Islamic teachings were assisted by the wali to verbalize syahadatain, a profession of faith saying that there is no god other than Allah and that Muhammad is his messenger.
Sekaten is therefore also believed to have derived from the word syahadatain with a change in the pronunciation of the original word.
To attract more people to come, two sets of traditional gamelan instruments created by Sunan Giri, one of the wali, were played at the celebration that was held for seven consecutive days ahead of Muhammad's birthday.
When Raden Patah's fifth daughter, Ray Wulan, married a prince from the Cirebon kingdom, however, the gamelan instruments were taken to Cirebon to be used for the same occasion held there at Kanoman Palace in Cirebon.
Since then, the Sekaten celebration in Demak was held without the presence of Sekaten gamelan instruments. When the kingdom was later centered in Pajang, there were no Sekaten celebrations, mostly due to the political turmoil at that time.
Sekaten was not celebrated again until the 17th century during the rule of Sultan Agung (1613 to 1645), who established the Mataram kingdom, following the fall of Pajang.
Sultan Agung then decided to build another two sets of gamelan instruments that were given the names Kyai Guntur Madu and Kyai Guntur Sari. The instruments were believed to symbolize the syahadatain, which consists of two professions of faith.
His successors, namely Amangkurat I, Amangkurat II (who moved the kingdom to Kartosuro), Amangkurat III, Paku Buwono (PB) I, and Amangkurat IV (or Amangkurat Jawi), however, did not hold Sekaten celebrations due to widespread political upheaval.
Sekaten was revived yet again in the 18th century during the rule of PB II, who moved the kingdom's seat to Surakarta. He was also known as the first king to commercialize the Sekaten ritual by holding a night market during the seven-day celebration.
When the Mangkubumi war broke out and resulted in the Giyanti Agreement on Feb. 23, 1755 that split the kingdom into two -- Surakarta and Yogyakarta -- the gamelan instruments were also split between them.
Kyai Guntur Madu was given to Pangeran Mangkubumi of Yogyakarta Palace, who was later crowned as Hamengkubuwono I, while Kyai Guntur Sari was given to PB II of the Surakarta Palace.
Since then, Sekaten celebrations have been held separately at each of the palaces. The night market in Yogyakarta is held for longer, up to a month ahead of the Sekaten celebration.
--Sri Wahyuni