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Richard Jernigan -> RE: "Dark Eyes"por milonga (Dec. 14 2016 0:00:32)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: BarkellWH
Marta and I visited Parang Tritis in 1996 during our assignment to the American Embassy in Jakarta, and I thought the entire landscape and seascape had a strange and vaguely menacing character. The water always seems to have a pewter hue, and the shore consists of sand that is slate grey to almost black in some places. Parang Tritis and the surrounding area is home to one of the most interesting Central Javanese legends, that of "Raden Loro Kidul," who to Central Javanese is known as the "Queen of the Southern Ocean" (sea goddess), and she has a malevolent reputation.
Raden Loro Kidul allegedly married Senopati, the founder of the second Mataram dynasty, and legend (actually Central Javanese belief) has it that she takes as her own young men who enter the ocean wearing green, as green is her color (It has nothing to do with Islam in this instance.) No one will enter the sea in that area wearing green. In fact, there are treacherous flows and rip currents in the waters off the coast of southern Java, so there no doubt have been enough drownings to lend credence to the legend.
Bill
Another story is that the Sultan of Yogyakarta derives magical powers from a sexual relationship with Raden Loro Kidul. There is a pool at the Sultan's palace which is said to connect with the ocean, and I believe that shortly after a new Sultan is crowned, he goes to Parang Tritis to commune with the Sea Goddess.
After the string orchestra and dancing women there was another performance. All the lights were shut off and a few torches were lit outside the pendopo. There ensued what was said to be a ritual worshipping Raden Loro Kidul.
My companions were my Javanese guide, polyglot translator and friend Paul; our half Javanese-half Balinese driver Harry; Lia, a Javanese girl whom I had known for two or three years, who lived and worked in Bali; and her girlfriend from the same small village at the southeast corner of Java.
Driving back to Yogyakarta late at night I commented on the spooky atmosphere of the Sea Goddess ceremony. Lia said that when she heard the priest intone the first lines in Kawi, the ancient form of Javanese, the hair stood up on the back of her neck, and chills ran down her spine.
Lia and her friend conversed at some length in Javanese. Quietly, I asked Paul what was up. He replied that the girls were discussing a white tiger that had come into the village and possessed the spirit of one of their aunts. They were discussing whether to ask me for money to pay for a ceremony to free her aunt from possession by the tiger. In the end they decided not to.
I asked Paul whether the tiger was visible, or an entirely supernatural presence. He replied, "I'm pretty sure they saw it. I doubt that you or I would have."
Yogyakarta has a number of interesting things to see and do, as does Solo nearby, the capital of another Sultan. At the Yogyakarta Sultan's palace we paid for Lia to be made up and dressed as a 19th-century noble woman. Her hair was done in the style of the time, the sari and blouse were elegant. We toured the palace in grand style. The Sultan's numerous uniformed retainers smiled and spoke to her.
The Sultan of Solo has an antique gamelan, played only on special occasions, and he subsidizes a theater troupe that presents Wayang Orang. Human actors (orang) mimic the exaggerated and jerky movements of the Waying Kulit puppets of the shadow play, accompanied by music from a pair of metallophones and drums.
The immense Buddhist monument of Borobudur, and the Hindu temple complex of Prambanan are nearby. At Prambanan they say a giant built a thousand temples in one night. I didn't count, but there are quite a few temples.
On the road to Prambanan we enjoyed a meal of a single large roasted fish, rice, vegetables and dipping sauces, seated on the floor of a bamboo restaurant, eating with our fingers. One of the sauces was kecap (pronounced keh-chahp) a fluid tomato sauce with hot peppers and mint, a lovely combination of both spicy and cool.
I always enjoyed my trips to Bali and Java, and keep in touch with a few friends I made there.
RNJ
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