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Unison in traditional life

Chaotic Mystical Kuda Lumping Traditional Dance

INDONESIA | Thursday, 15 May 2014 | Views [1055] | Scholarship Entry

It was the first time I saw a group of man being possesed deliberatly for “Kuda Lumping” or Flat Horse made from woven bamboo and painted with color.
A very distinctive sound that came from every instruments of gamelan created a harmonious symphony started the show. “Pesindhen” who is a female solo singer who wear "kebaya"and sings with gamelan started to sang her part.
The song signaled for the horsemen to enter.Horsemen entered while shaking the Kuda lumping as if they were riding a horse. At the very end, the local shaman whipped many times, while the horsemen keep dancing in formation to synchronizate with the music.
Not long after the horsemen danced, one of the horsemen fell down. Then he started to move randomly and screamed. That happened for a minute, then the local shaman approach him and held his forehead while pushing him down to the ground.After pushing his forehead for a few times, he started to calm down. The headchief explained that while the first phase posses period is usually very painful therefore the horsemen screamed and move randomly.
He then raised up again, with a killing gaze. It meant that he were already possesed by ancestors. The local shaman said that the one who possesed him was a warrior. He then started to dance like a warrior’s move while ate an offerings made from incense and live coals. He really ate it as if it were biscuits.
After the first men being possesed, then the other horsemen started to fell down. This time 4 men down at the same time,it was like a chaos.There were many kinds of ancestor who possesed the horsemen, one is the elder which very calm, one is the local massaeur, one is somehow a monkey, and the other is an old female dancer.
The elder just walked around while smoking traditional cigarette, the warrior then started to handshake the first row attendants including me while saying thanks in Javanese. The old female dancer started to dance like a women, the masseur sat down while helping massaged a male child who had sprained ankle, and the monkey walked around like a monkey while eating offering including with the glass plate. No kidding, he really ate the glass plate as if it were crackers.
While the music reach the climax ending, suddenly the monkey jumped to the outside of the border to the banana tree downhill, it’s giving us a shock,While everyone were shocked by that incident, the warrior was angry then local shaman hold her forehead and force the spirit to go out from the body.

Tags: 2014 Travel Writing Scholarship - Euro Roadtrip

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