Javanese culture

One calls Javanese the part of the population of the island of Java in Indonesia whose language is the Javanese. Geographically, the Javanese country is consisted the provinces of Java Centers and Java Is and the area of Cirebon in the province of Western Java. Historically, it is considered that the old sultanate of Banten (today a province) formed Javanese part of the world, although the inhabitants of this province speak the Sundanais today, language of the majority of the inhabitants of the west of Java.

The Javaneses summarize their culture in four elements: the Batik (technique of dyeing of the textiles to wax), the Gamelan (orchestra of métallophones, of which the gong S), the keris (Kris, arms ceremonial) and the wayang (shadow theater).

Batik

The word " batik" is of Javanese origin. It is the most known aspect of the Javanese culture, although one finds this technique in Asia elsewhere, in particular in China, India and in Ceylon, and also with the Middle East and in West Africa. In Indonesia even, the traditional surface of extension of the batik covers, in addition to Java, the island close to Madura and the towns of Jambi and Palembang in Sumatra. In Java even, the most known styles are those, traditional, of the center of the island with Surakarta and Yogyakarta, but also those of the Pesisir , of which most known are of Cirebon, Lasem and Pekalongan.

The gamelan

The culture of the gongs would draw its roots of the culture from Dong Its in Vietnam (Xe-Ier century before J. - C.), called " culture of the drums of bronze". One indeed found in Indonesia of many objects of bronze similar to those of Dong Son. This culture is characterized in particular by ritual drums, of which most known in Indonesia is the " The moon of Pejeng" , preserved at Bali. The orchestra gamelan is a whole of percussion instruments (the word comes from gamel , a small mallet) to blades or bronze bulbs. It is considered that the central element of this orchestra is the gong. The execution of the music of gamelan starts besides with the striking of the large gong ( gong gede ). The gong is famous to have a heart. Traditionally in Java, one makes him offerings and one burns incense for him Thursday with fallen the night. In addition to Java and Madura, the surface of the gamelan includes Bali, where its traditional name is gong besides.

The keris

At the same time arms and spiritual object, the keris is often regarded as having magic capacities. In Occident, one rather knows it like a " dagger malais". Probably originating in Java, the keris would have been spread then in the remainder of the archipelago, in Malaysia and in the south of Philippines. Oldest keris known was manufactured in the neighborhoods of the year 1360 after J. - C. in Java, is the time of the king Hayam Wuruk of Majapahit.

The wayang

The oldest testimony which one has on the wayang is a inscripton Xe century after J. - C. found in Bali. The word is same root as hyang , which means " divinité" , and moyang , " ancêtre". It is thought that at the origin, the wayang was associated with the ritual ones of evocation of the ancestors. Apart from Java and Madura, one finds a tradition of wayang with Bali and the Kelantan in Malaysia.

In Java, the argument of a spectacle of wayang is generally drawn from the Indian epopee of the Mahabharata. A spectacle of wayang is in theory a ritual which one carries out at the time of family events like a marriage or a circumcision, social demonstrations or even the launching of an industrial project. The occasion of a wayang can be more particular, for example a ruwetan , ceremony intended to entreat a bad fate. The account ( lakon , of laku , " agir") chosen will be always function of the occasion of the spectacle (one finds besides the word lakon in the languages Khmer and Thai E to indicate the account of a spectacle). There exist other sources of argument, like of course the other Indian epopee, the Ramayana, but also of the properly Javanese stories as the cycle of Panji.

Music and dance

The use of the gamelan is traditionally related to the spectacle of wayang, of which the duration is divided into 3 periods. From 9 p.m. at midnight, the dalang (showman) exposes the argument, describes the framework, introduces the characters. Midnight at 3 o'clock in the morning, the conflict bursts: it is the park-parked . The 3 hours period to the rising of the sun around 6 a.m. is that of the re-establishment of the harmony. At each period thus an atmosphere corresponds, which is illustrated by a type of melody (that some call " mode" , although the English word mood , " humeur" , that is to say more suitable).

Parallel to the dance an art of the music developed which supports the performance of the dancers. According to the rate/rhythm of the dance, the music will be thus melancholic person, dramatic, combative, comic even.

Java and Sunda also developed an art of the song, the tembang , in particular in the form of sung poems drawn from the kidung , chansons de geste written starting from XVIe century, which tell the size of disappeared kingdoms, the unhappy love affairs or quite simply the beauty of the landscape or the moonlight. The Sunda country in the west of Java carried this art, the Tembang Sunda , with an high degree of beauty and poetry.

There exist also forms of popular dances, in particular dependant on moments of the village life, in particular the culture of rice. The worship of Sri, another name of Lakshmi, the goddess of the harvests of the Hindouisme, is always observed in Java, even if it runs up against a certain orthodoxe Moslem woman. Although the name, which wants to say " splendeur" in Sanskrit, that is to say of Indian origin, the myth is specific to the archipelago indonésien: Sri was sacrificed, and the various parts of its body gave rice. The peasants of Java pay homage to him to obtain good harvests. Those are the occasion of festivities which are accompanied by music and dance.

Another form of popular dance is the tayub . It was carried out formerly by itinerant troops which came to animate the village f4etes. A dancer invites a member of the assistance to dance with it, then passes to another.

Literature

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