TRADITIONAL DANCER TRANCE WHEN PLAYED EBEG/KUDA LUMPING

Indonesia have many various kind of traditional art of dance, the one of traditional art of dance from Javanese, especially from central java and east java is called Ebeg (From Banyumas), Jathilan (from Solo, Yogyakarta and East Java). Ebeg Jathilan called in local language or Kuda Lumping called in Indonesian language is a game by dancing who plays by 4th-10th or more dancer that they wore custom/uniform on full color dominated red color, blue color and yellow.

So the performance like that very interested to showing in public area, this dance applies bamboo matting formed looks like horse, complete with its accessory. Visible this from clothes used by dancer as well as movement of dance looking like empire soldier riding on horseback with maneuvers to march, rotary with next player commando, dashes against like will battle. Usually Ebeg or jathilan show played on independence celebrating days, initiation ceremony when the boys left the childhood age or wedding and others ceremonial to collect viewers of mass.

The name Ebeg or Jathilan /Kuda Lumping literally means "flat horses", in this traditional dance, horse which made by bamboo was put between the dancer leg and they dance by following the traditional music from kendhang, bonang, saron, kempul, slompret and ketipung.
The harder and faster ritmhic of traditional music will be following by the dancer to dance more faster and harder. At once into trance, the horse-riding dancers start behaving like horses and then begin their battle against the evil .

The Kuda Lumping horses from Central Java are used in a trance dance of the public area like school yard or soccer fields. There are a number of trance dances among the traditional dances of Java. Ebeg or Jathilan / Kuda Lumping is one of these trance dances. Unlike many kind of the other trance dances, Ebeg or Jathilan / Kuda Lumping is about the battle of good and evil.

The action that is very waited by audience is third act or last act where the players experiences " trance”.

The players is being this trance does illogical activity, they can eat material of glasses like Ball lamp, Tube Lamp or others who made of glasses and they are not hurt. The player having trait like animal that is eating grass, eats coconut, eats paddy with the handle, eats chicken flesh which still raw. Simply action of the player influenced by occult soul or so-called with indang (the soul of ancient people or the soul of animal) is coming into the dancer body. If monkey soul hence action of the player like deportment of monkey. He will go up tree then down forwards with under head, opens coconut with bite and breaks with his own head. If entering beast animal soul to eat will eat flesh which still raw. And other occult soul.
They do that external from awareness. To make situation of multitude once in a while there are audience making act of to be pursued by Kuda lumping dancer is being trance. Its way by using red clothes or shakes down tree causing pursued. Then they see like enemy which must be defeated. Then audience cheers and laughs see many people to run. Masks are used by the dancers to pose as various spirits and the main characters are the horse riding dancers.The dancers become the horse that they are riding and are brought out of their trance at the end of the dance.

THE TRADITIONAL METHOD FOR CULTIVATING RICE IS FLOODING THE FIELDS WHILST

Indonesia is a developing country so that a lot of people do in agreecultural as a Farmer, They are have lived in villages around all over in Indonesia. The farmer in Indonesia are very differences like in other country, the most of people have not enough wide of lands for plant because compare the population and the lands are not the same, the population of people much more than their lands.

How do the farmer in Indonesia cultivation on their land ? There are many ways to cultivation on their land in traditional way to get ready for rice planting by using animal help like cow and buffalo. Maybe we can see like above describing in Indonesia until rigtht now

Rice is the staple food in Indonesia, and the planting of rice seedlings has been a backbreaking, yet essential, job since ancient times. Farmers must spend long hours stooping over muddy paddies inserting the seedlings one at a time. The job requires long experience and well-honed skills.

Rice is a staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in tropical Latin America, and East South and Southeast Asia included in Indonesia, making it the second-most consumed cereal grain. A traditional food plant in Indonesia, Rice has the potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare Rice provides more than one fifth of the calories consumed worldwide by humans. In early 2008, some governments and retailers began rationing supplies of the grain due to fears of a global rice shortage.

The traditional method for cultivating rice is flooding the fields whilst, or after, setting the young seedlings.
This simple method requires sound planning and servicing of the water damming and channeling, but reduces the growth of less robust weed and pest plants that have no submerged growth state, and deters vermin. While with rice growing and cultivation the flooding is not mandatory, all other methods of irrigation require higher effort in weed and pest control during growth periods and a different approach for fertilizing the soil.

The farmer planted side by side. The one planted three rows and the other one planted four. Afterward they all looked back over the planted paddy. Since there was a strong wind, a lot of the plants were blown over.
They had to go in and firm them up, or replace them with new plants. The seedlings that my father and the others had planted were all standing, but the ones my brother and I planted needed a lot of fixing.

Rice cultivation is well-suited to countries and regions with low labor costs and high rainfall, as it is very labor-intensive to cultivate and requires plenty of water for cultivation.

On the other hand, mechanized cultivation is extremely oil-intensive, more than other food products with the exception of beef and dairy products. Rice can be grown practically anywhere, even on a steep hill or mountain. Although its species are native to South Asia and certain parts of Africa, centuries of trade and exportation have made it common place in many cultures.

DID YOU KNOW

MR. BARACK OBAMA HAS STUDIED
AT
SD NEGERI MENTENG 01 JAKARTA

Obama in the eye of his Indonesian friends.

In Indonesia, excitement and surprise are also felt among Obama’s childhood friend as reported by an Indonesia’s local newspapers Duta Masyarakat 05 June 2008.
As is known, he’s been in Indonesia during his childhood days that is between 6 to 10 year-old of his age. . He studied in Sekolah Dasar Negeri Menteng 01 Jakarta. According to Cahyono, one of his class mate in Class III, he’s

Just an ordinary student although is very studious one. He used to like playing soccer in break time.

Kuwadiyanto, the SDN Menteng principal, in the meantime, feels so proud of Barack Obama’s great and historic achievement and hopes that once he is elected as the US president, he would visit Indonesia.

*SDN or Sekolah Dasar Negeri is Indonesian school from class I to VI. We call SMP or sekolah menengah pertama for Class VII to IX and SMA or sekolah menengah atas for Class X to XII( The text take from A. Fatih Syuhud, Blog Indonesia)

With His friends

Lolo Soetoro, Ann ( Ibu Obama ), Maya (adik tiri) dan Obama .

MENDUT TEMPLE

Mendut temple is located some 45 minutes northeast of Yogyakarta city. It sits on a hill in the town of Muntilan in the Magelang District. Most travel agents in Yogyakarta offer the day-trip excursion to this temple as part of the tour to Borobudur temple located nearby.

Mendut Temple is located some 2 miles east of its more popular cousin, Borobudur Temple. It was built around 800 A.D by the Kings of Syailendra Dynasty, the same kingdom that built the world-famous Borobudur temple some years later.

There are three big statues inside, they are:

1. Cakyamuni sitting in cross legged pose with dharma cakra mudra (= turning the wheel of dharma hand pose)

2. Awalokiteswara, a bodhi satwa as human being helper.
Awalokiteswara is a statue with Amitabha on her crown, Vajrapani. She is holding a red lotus and put on her palm.

3. Maitreya, a savior of human beings in the future.

There are stories for children on its walls.

Mendut temple is frequently used to celebrate the Waisak day every May full moon and the pilgrims from Indonesia and all parts of the world come to this ceremony.

It is older than Borobudur Temple. Its architecture is square, and having an entrance on its steps. Its roof is also square and terraced. There are stupas (= bell-shaped structures) on it.

The three meter tall statue of the Buddha, rest in the central niche of Mendut temple, the easternmost of the two temples possibly associated with Borobudur. He sits in so-called European fashion, a pose uncommon but not unknown in the Buddhist art of the time. Mendut temple was restored early this century, but the roof line of the restored temple is speculative at best. The ethics and practices of restoration have changed since Borobudur attracted the interest of European scholars at the turn of the century.
After Borobudur, Mendut temple is the second largest Buddhist Holy place in the Kedu area. It is located at Mendut village. Mungkid District, Magelang Regency, about 38 kilometers northwest of Yogyakarta and 3 kilometers east of Borobudur. Mendut was probably erected by King Indra the first King of Syailendra dynasty. We suspect that the King attempted to build a sacred edifice in order to accumulate as many virtuous deeds as possible. Building a temple should be considered a virtuous deed. In addition to sacred duty, Mahayana Buddhism stresses the principle of Mahayana or mutual love among men, with the erection of the temple. King Indra complied with this principle by providing a place of worship for his followers so that they could also reach happiness and Nirvana.

There is a huge banyan Warigin tree at a corner of the temple compound, providing a good shade to visitors. During my visit also,the tenths used for the massive Waisak (Waicak or Wesak) celebration were still intact despite the event was completed a few days earlier.

GEDONG SONGO TEMPLES FROM UNGARAN

Gedong Songo Temple. This is a places resort on the slopes of Mountain at Ungaran, Ungara is near Semarang.It is about 900 meters above sea level. Gedong Songo temples almost people calls like that, it means of Nine buildings but so far there are still seven building we can see because the others ( two building ) only have the pondations, a group of small 8th century Hinduism of Javanese temples, can be reached either by car or on horseback from Ungaran. Built at about the same time as the temples of the Dieng complex, Gedong Songo is one of the most beautifully temple complexes in Central Java. The views alone are worth the trip.

Do you want a ride a horse to reached up hill

This is 9th building

Background the twin mount a beatiful landscape

A group of small 8th century

The Structure of Building were damaged

The 4th Building

The 3rd Building

The 2nd Building

the 1st Building

SUKUH AND CETO ENIGMATIC TEMPLES HIGH ON MOUNT LAWU

More about temples from Central Java, If you want to visit to Central Java, There are many places were built Hinduism and Bhudism.Here I present you Sukuh temples and Cetho Temples are located in Karanganyar, Solo.

During the 15th century, several temples were constructed high on the slopes of Mt. Lawn, right on the border between East and Central Java. By this time, Javanese religion and art had diverged far from the Indian precepts that exerted significant influence during the 8th-10th centuries, an a new and idiosyncratic style had developed. This region on the northwest slopes of Mt. Lawn was the last major center of temple-building in Java before the Javanese courts were converted to Islam in the 16th century. Because the temples are so distinctive, and because we possess few records of Javanese beliefs and ceremonies during the 15th century, it is difficult to interpret the significance of much of what we see on the antiquities of this period. They are nonetheless extremely beautiful and fascinating to visit

SUKUH TEMPLES

The largest and most complex of these mountain sanctuaries is Candi Sukuh, situated at an elevation of 910 meters (2,960 ft); reached by taking a turn-off to the left at Karangpandan on the road up to Tawangmangu. A number of inscriptions dating from the period A.D. 1416-1459 have been found here.

The main structure at Sukuh is shaped like no other building in ancient Indonesia - a flat-topped pyramid much resembling a Mayan monument. A stone stairway conducts the visitor through the side of the pyramid to its summit. We do not know what this unique shape was meant to symbolize. If it represents a mountain, as seems likely, we are still left with the question of why this shape replaced preexisting forms of ancient Javanese temple design.
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The main building gives no indication of having supported any wooden structure. The only object recovered from its summit was a tall lingga bearing an inscription, which is now in the Jakarta museum. This may once have stood on the platform over the stairway on the , side of the temple. Stone altars, three in the form of enormous turtles, stand around the pyramid's western foot.

The central pyramid is set at the rear of the highest of three terraces. Originally worshippers would have gained access to the site through a gateway at the edge of the western or lowest terrace. To the left side of the gate's exterior is a carving of a monster devouring a man, birds in a tree, and a dog. This can be interpreted as a chronogram representing A.D. 1437, the probable date of the temple's consecration. On the floor of this entrance is a realistic relief of male and female genitals. Genetalia are also graphically portrayed on several statues from the site, another respect in which Candi Sukuh is unique among classical Javanese monuments.

Unique bas reliefs

Disconnected fragments of narrative reliefs lie on the lower terraces, while a greater concentration of sculptures lies around the altars on the upper terrace west of the pyramid. On the south side, the first object one now passes upon entering the temple grounds is a large relief in three sections. The left side represents a deity as a squatting keris smith hammering a blade on an anvil with his fist; in the background are the various tools of his trade. The same deity is portrayed on the right side as the operator of a traditional Indonesian piston-bellows. He is Bima, an incarnation of Siva who became the focus of a Javanese cult in the 15th century, filling the role of a savior figure. The center is occupied by an elephant, perhaps Siva's elephant-headed son Ganesa, carrying an animal. Blacksmiths and especially keris makers have been highly respected in Indonesia, but what relationship this scene bore to the ceremonies once conducted at Candi Sukuh is unknown.

To the right of the entrance to the pyramid is a cubical structure carved with two horizontal rows of reliefs. Their meaning is unclear, but they are reminiscent of the Sudamala story. Today offerings are often placed in the opening on the west side of the cube in honor of Kyai Sukuh, the temple's spirit. [

On the far left side of the terrace is a platform with a pylon-like tower, the lower seetion of which is carved with a design known as a kalamarga-a kala head at the top of an archway which terminates in two horned animals representing deer. Inside the arch are images of Bima on the right and Batara Guru (both are aspects of Siva, the supreme deity) on the left, standing upon a two-headed serpent. Beneath them are two hermits.

Beside this kalamarga is a spout connected to a channel which runs behind the pylon and then in the same direction above a series of reliefs. Many parts of this relief are now lined up along the north edge of the terrace. They depict the Sudamala legend, which is a popular subject of modern Balinese dance performances. One of the reliefs bears a date corresponding to A.D. 1449. The upper part of the pylon is decorated with reliefs depicting the Garudeya legend concerning Garuda's search for the elixir of immortality with which to free his mother from slavery.

If one follows the path which leads south and downhill from Candi Sukuh, after about - 1 km the village of Planggatan is reached. Just beyond the southeast corner of the village are the ruins of a small 15th-century shrine with some narrative reliefs.

CETHO TEMPLES

Candi Ceto is located about 5 km (3 rr-north and 500 meters (1630 ft) above Carndi Sukuh. Dates found inscribed here including A.D. 1468, 1472 and 1475. The layout of the temple is similar to Sukuh, but comprising many more terraces (14). As at Candi Sukuh the main deity portrayed is Bima. On a lower terrace were found fragments of narrative reliefs in poor condition, no longer in situ and a large number of small stone turtles.

The most interesting remain is a complicated figure composed of stones laid flat on the ground. At the western end is a large lingga like that found at Sukuh, lying horizontally and pointing due west. At its base is a composition representing a tortoise on the back of a huge bat. On the tortoise's back are number of sea creatures oriented in various compass directions.

During the 1970s a new gateway was built and new structures were added to the upper terraces, including stone walls and floors. -c are also pavilions built of wood and ,sugar-palm thatch, and a stone pyramid roughly similar in outline to the main building at Candi Sukuh.


About 50 meters farther up the slope are a bathing place with several recent statues, and a wooden shrine. For several years in the late 1970s the site was used by a group of people of high political status who came to meditate in the belief that supernatural power was inherent here. They have ceased to visit the place, but local residents continue to leave offerings at the uppermost shrine.


Antiquities a top Mt. Lawu
Some of the most interesting ruins in Java are found in rather remote locations nearby. The very summit of Lawu-which stands over 3.000 meters (9,750 ft) above sea level - and on the surface of a plateau about 100 meters (330 ft) beneath it, are at least 10 terrace and stone wall complexes. No complete survey of the ruins has ever been published. The largest, called Hargo Dalem, has a lower terrace approximately 100 meters (330 ft) long and 20 meters (65 ft) wide. Above it are progressively smaller terraces surmounted by a stone-walled enclosure within which a wooden shrine of recent construction stands.
It is not possible for us to determine the exact dates of these complexes. They are likely to belong either to the late prehistoric period-about 1,500-2,000 years ago, just before the widespread adoption of Hinduism and Buddhism-or to the early post-classic period which began about 500 years ago when some Central Javanese resisted conversion to Islam.
The sites are still frequently visited by pilgrims who come here to meditate in seclusion. On the eve of the Javanese new year (1 Suro) as many as 2000 people may ascend to conduct traditional rituals. The Indonesian government does not recognize such practices, but permits them to be conducted under the term of aliran keperrayaan or "currents of belief"

Copyright: Periplus Adventure Guides Java Periplus Editions 1995