Prambanan temple is a huge Hindu monument on the outskirts of Jogjakarta, always busy with a lot of tourists climbing over it, taking selfies and its always hot and dusty.
We went for a different reason. We wanted to watch a performance of the Kuda Lumping. I have seen it a few times and I wanted to try and understand what was going on plus the trance like music is memorising.
The first time I saw this ancient Javanese performance was a few years ago at the Prambanan temple. Walking around by myself one Sunday morning, I heard amazing music, primal and very trancey. I walked to where the performance was and it blew my mind.
Five young men were riding Kuda Lumping bamboo mat horses, dancing. A mysterious looking man dressed in black, grabbed one of the young men and pressed flowers into his head, suddenly whipped them away and the boy went crazy. He rolled around and jumped madly. I could see his eyes were very dark and crazy.
He was screaming and rolling around on the ground, the crowd moved back, and the boy grabbed burning incense and ate it! He was in trance and gone.
After a while, the shaman grabbed the boy, lay him on the ground and doused his head with holy water. The imagery of that stayed with me for a long time.
Earlier this year in Melbourne for a music festival, a collaboration between an Aussie producer and a Javanese shaman, bought Kuda Lumping performers to Melbourne. My friend and I went and were blown away by the taste of Java in our hometown. It was a similar style to Prambanan but much more showy dancing with flashing lights and a full gamelan orchestra.
Later in the performance, the trance atmosphere was close. All the performers went into trance while they were riding their Kuda Lumping horses. They were wild and chaotic, kept in control and in their boundaries by several minders. Their performance was incredible, starting with eating burning incense, then fluorescent tubes and wine glasses, then throwing themselves on big mats of broken glass.
It was chaotic but thrilling. Many people in the audience left, it was too much for them to comprehend. Some of the gamelan orchestra members went into trance too, as all the gongs fell over and gamelan instruments fell off the stage. Even members of the audience slid into trace state. The atmosphere was electric! I was exhilarated, full of adrenaline.
Finally on my return to Jogjakarta, I wanted to see Kuda lumping in its raw state. I needed to understand.
So back to Prambanan on a Sunday morning. We heard the familiar trance music. The gamelan, the drums and the Javanese lady singing her slow soulful tones.
This was different. Several young boys in their early teens were being corralled in a small area, all dressed in traditional costume and filthy after rolling in the dirt. They were aimlessly wondering in circles, moving to the music. The atmosphere of trance was there but it was mild. These boys were learning. They were all guided by the Dukun (shaman) gently bought in and out of trance, resting and then going again. All the time eating flowers, coconut husks and incense. These boys were in training. No chaos here but lovely to watch the gentle guiding and firm control. The music was beautiful.
So, I think I understand this rite of passage for young men. Maybe the spirit that does overtake them is a horse. The young men need to learn to control it as well proving their virility and masculinity by eating all these random things.
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