i was pretty wiped out yesterday afternoon, so i took a nap. i woke up about an hour later to the sound of javanese music playing VERY loudly somewhere nearby. at first i thought it was a wedding. but then i realized that it wasn't wedding music. so in my half asleep state, i decided to go find whatever it was. i grabbed my little camera and my phone and stumbled out the door.
the guard at the back gate saw me tripping toward him, and he was kind of chuckling at me. once i got closer, he said to me, clear as a bell, "hear something?" unfortunately, i was so out of it that i mostly just stared at him through squinty eyes, trying to translate "hear something" into english. once i finally realized that he had actually spoken english to me, i replied with, "yeah, and it woke me up." apparently his english is fairly limited, because he just stared back at me. so i translated into indonesian. i asked him what the music was, and he told me that it was a traditional indonesian dance going on. i asked him if it was alright if i went to find it, and he said yeah, but that it was far away. i told him i like to walk and he let me out the gate.
about 5 minutes of walking later (SO far away), i came upon a crowd in the road. they were all looking into a yard in front of a house. luckily, i am taller than like 95% of indonesians, so it was pretty easy for me to see what was going on. i saw men dancing around on horses woven together from grasses. i'd heard of the horse dance before, but this was my first time to see it. from what i'd heard, a horse dance is not a place you want to be. it starts out as a traditional dance, but once spirits are invited, it turns into a demon possessed frenzy. i'd heard all sorts of insane things, including children too young to walk getting possessed and dancing.
there were no children there yesterday, but even so, once i was there, i couldn't leave until it was over. it was like watching a train wreck. you can't look away... amazingly enough, everyone was so absorbed in what was going on, that they paid very little attention to the fact that there was a white person there watching too. i arrived after the spirits were already there and things were well under way.
from what i observed, this is the setup: off to one side of the open yard, there were about 6 musicians playing traditional javanese instruments under an open sided tent. in the yard itself, there were 3 "leaders". when i asked yohanes about it later, he called them bah-wang (i have no clue how to spell that, but that's how he pronounced it). they were not possessed, but had power over the men who were. there were several "handlers", as i call them. these men kept control over the demon possessed men, as many of them would try to run into the crowd or would lose control of themselves. (they're like the guys who stand in the corners with the panels at hog shows.) and there were about 10 possessed men ranging in age from (best guess) 15 - 50.
some of them were "riding" woven horses. some of them were dancing around. some of them were getting in fights. some were laying on the ground, twitching. some were doing flips and spins. some were shredding coconuts with their teeth. at various points of the "show", the head bah-wang would bring out a whip... he would go to one of the possessed men and they would bow in submission, then he would whip them repeatedly on the arms, legs, and back. but they wouldn't bleed. one of the other bah-wangs was giving the men gasoline to drink. one of the possessed man started shoving fistfuls of dirt into his mouth and eating it. a short while later, he threw it all up into his hands, then promptly proceeded to eat it all again. after the dirt was gone, he lit some sticks on fire, then ate those too. he also stole a lit cigarette from someone in the crowd and rubbed the burning end all over his face, then ate it too. he never got burnt. another guy spent the entire time trying to throw himself into the crowd. he was probably the most possessed. he had no control over himself. his eyes were empty, like he was dead. but he looked into my eyes a couple times, and i felt like satan himself was staring at me.
the bah-wang would let them dance until they were so exhausted they would just lay on the ground. then he would get them to stand up, and he would lead them over to behind where the musicians were. i don't think the people were supposed to see this part, but i was paying attention. once he had them back there, he would get the spirits out of them. it was a huge spiritual battle, because the spirits would fight with him. the possessed men would start howling and yelling like animals and their whole bodies would be convulsing. you could barely hear it over the music though. once the spirits were out of them, their bodies would just lay crumpled on the ground. they looked dead. then two of the handlers would come and carry them into a nearby house and lay them on the floor.
the dance went on and on and on until finally all the men had collapsed and the spirits were all cast out. i don't know how long i stood there watching. i've seen demons before. but not like this. i just stood there, and i felt completely numb all over.
i think that one of the worst parts of it was that for the people there, this was entertainment. whole families were there. the younger kids would try to press through the crowd to the front so they could see better. little kids were sitting on their daddy's shoulders. and they were laughing. every time one of the men threw themselves at the crowd, they would all run away screaming, then come right back. and every time someone would eat dirt or do a flip or get whipped, they would laugh and cheer.
when i got back to campus, the guard asked me how it was. i just shook my head at him. and he nodded. he understood.
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