Slametan
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The slametan (or selametan, slamatan, and selamatan) is the communal
A slametan can be given to celebrate almost any occurrence, including
- Those relating to the crises of life: birth, circumcision, marriage, and death
- Those associated with events of the Islamic calendar
- The bersih désa ("cleaning of the village"), concerned with the social integration of the village
- Those held irregularly depending on unusual occurrences: departing for a long trip, moving residence, changing personal names, healing from illnesses, recovering from the effect of sorcery, and so on
The ceremony takes its name from the
In Geertz's fieldwork in
Procedure
Slametans are generally held in the evening, after
When they arrive, the guests sit on floor mats around the food which has been placed in the center, while incense fills the room. The ceremony begins with a formal speech (udjub) in high Javanese. The speech thanks the attendees for coming, presents the reason for the slametan, announces his intentions and petitions the spirits to secure for himself and his guests a state of equanimity (slamet, hence the name of the ritual), and finally apologizes for any errors in his speech and the humble inadequacy of the food. During pauses in the speech, the audience responds with solemn "inggih" ("yes").[5]
Following the speech, somebody present gives an Arabic chant-prayer. Many will not know how, but the host makes sure that someone there had attended a
At last, the food is served. While the ceremony is strictly for men, the food preparation falls upon the women in the family, who for larger ceremonies may draw on kin to assist in the preparation.[4] Each guest receives a cup of tea and a banana-leaf dish containing each sort of food in the center of the room. The food is fancier than average, and each variety has a symbolic meaning, which is sometimes explained in the speech. The host himself does not eat, nor does he serve the food, which one or two of the guests do. When everybody has a dish, the host invites them to eat, which they do quickly without speaking. After a few minutes, and before eating most of the food, the guests excuse themselves, and finish eating the food in their own homes, with their own wives and children. The whole ceremony usually lasts only ten or fifteen minutes.[6]
Timing and characteristics
Life cycle events
Around birth, there are four major slametans and a number of minor ones. The four major ones are:[7]
- Tingkeban, at about seven months of pregnancy (held only for the first child of either the mother or father)
- Babaran or brokokan, at the birth itself
- Pasaran, five days after birth, including the naming of the child
- Pitonan, seven "months" after birth (a month being the 35-day cycle of the Javanese calendar)
The circumcision slametan (islamam or sunatan, held for boys between the ages of ten and fourteen) and the wedding slametan (kepanggihan) are similar in their ceremony and foods offered, and can be seen as coming-of-age ceremonies for boys and girls, respectively.[8]
Funerals (layatan) generally take place as soon as possible after the death, and inevitably involve the religious specialist (modin) of the village. Slametans are held the day of the death, and then repeated in increasing size (both in number of guests and length of the chant) three, seven, forty, and 100 days after the death, the first and second anniversaries, and 1000 days after the death. The final one is the most elaborate, and is thought to mark the point when the body has completely decayed to dust.[9]
Islamic feasts
The most important of the calendrical slametans are for the
Community feasts
The bersih désa is always held in
Personal feasts
Geertz's final category of slametans, intermittently occurring and dependent on a specific situation, are somewhat less frequent and tend to be smaller affairs. Reasons for holding these slametans include changing residences, changing names, going on a journey, bad dreams (it can prevent the fearful event), prevention or encouragement of rain, anniversaries of clubs and organizations, sorcery, healing, and others.[12]
References
- Geertz, Clifford. The Religion of Java. Glencoe, IL: The Free Press, 1960.
Notes
Further reading
- Andrew Beatty. "Adam and Eve and Vishnu: Syncretism in the Javanese Slametan" The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. 2, No. 2 (Jun., 1996), pp. 271-288
- Alexander Hawkins. "Slametan in South Kalimantan" in Creating Indonesian Cultures, Paul Alexander, ed. Sydney: Oceania Publications, 1989.
- Jan Newberry. "Rituals of Rule in the Administered Community: The Javanese Slametan Reconsidered." ModernAsian Studies. Published online January 2007
- Mark R. Woodward. "The "Slametan": Textual Knowledge and Ritual Performance in Central Javanese Islam." History of Religions, Vol. 28, No. 1 (Aug., 1988), pp. 54-89