Tracking Javanese culture in Sulawesi

Tantri Yuliandini, Tondano, North Sulawesi

"Hey! You're from Malang, aren't you? This guy's from there too!" a young man shouted as I left Al Falah Kyai Modjo mosque in Kampung Jawa, Tondano, recently, causing me to pause and wait for him.

I had expected to hear a little Javanese, and even the sound of the muezzin calling the faithful to prayer in this heartland of Christian Minahasa. What I had not anticipated was to meet a person from my own neighborhood.

A giddy feeling of "it's a small world, after all" came over me. Apparently, Malang -- that East Java mountain town where I was born -- had a greater hold on me than I realized, even though I left it more than 10 years ago.

The young man told me that he had stayed here for quite some time, but unfortunately he was called to pray before I found out anything more.

Kampung Jawa, in the Tondano region of North Sulawesi, is one of about five villages spread across this predominantly Christian region that has embraced Islam totally.

The villagers are the descendants of Javanese fighters from the Java War (1825 to 1830) exiled here with their leaders, Pangeran (Prince) Diponegoro and Kyai Mojo, by the Dutch more than 170 years ago.

Pangeran Diponegoro was the son of Yogyakarta Sultan Hamengkubuwono III and a concubine, and fought against the Dutch, sparking the Java War.

The prince was later transferred to Makassar, South Sulawesi, where he died in 1855, but his entourage remained in Tondano and thrived.

Kyai Mojo, leader of the exiles, and his men quickly attracted the sympathy of local Minahasan leaders, known as walak, who gave them their daughters to marry, with land as dowries.

"After the first marriages, their children opened up to more and more Minahasan influence," said one of the village elders, Sukirman H. Djafar, who is also the chief of sea and port traffic at Bitung.

Claiming to be a direct descendant of Sultan Hamengkubuwono II (1792 to 1828), Sukirman said that many traditional Javanese customs still existed in Kampung Jawa.

The traditions still adhered to here include wedding ceremony rituals such as the midodareni (the night when it is believed angels descend to visit the bride) and ngunduh mantu (introducing the daughter-in-law to the groom's neighborhood), tingkepan (a ritual to bless the seventh month of pregnancy), as well as the religious ritual, muludan (the birth of the prophet Muhammad).

"Nowadays, community leaders make sure these customary traditions are upheld," Sukirman said.

Many Javanese artistic traditions also flourished in Tondano, such as the gamelan, but not traditional wayang leather puppet performances, he said, explaining that leather was difficult to obtain in Tondano at that time.

The Javanese language that Kyai Mojo and his men spoke soon became enmeshed with local Minahasan and Tondanese to became a separate, unique, dialect.

A legacy of the time the first Javanese arrived was the Al Falah Kyai Modjo Great Mosque, believed to have been built on the site where Kyai Mojo used to lead his people in prayer.

A very old, decorated pulpit inside the mosque bore the inscription of the year 1286 of the Islamic calendar, or 1866 A.D.

Caretaker of the mosque Husnan Kiaydemak said that 1866 was believed to have been the year when construction of the mosque commenced, and that it had been renovated several times since then.

"I believe the original building was an exact replica of the Demak Great Mosque," he said, referring to the ancient 16th century mosque in Demak, Central Java.

Today, only the four main pillars of the original mosque remained standing. Some of the original wood from the ceiling paneling has also been kept, but is no longer part of the main building.

"This bedug is also original," Husnan said, showing me the large drum that used to be sounded before the call to prayer.

Kyai Mojo's grave is also located in this village. Unfortunately, as the light was fading quickly I did not have time to pay my respects at the hero's final resting place.

As the muezzin called the faithful to evening prayers, I bade my fellow native of Malang goodbye and went on my way.