Photo Essay: Journey Into The Spirituality Of Indonesia’s Bonokeling Community
BANYUMAS, Indonesia — Some 400 members of the Bonokeling indigenous community of Central Java started a series of traditional ceremonies as part of an annual pilgrimage — a very public manifestation of their spirituality and long-standing traditions — that has endured over time.
They walked a distance of around 25 miles (40 kilometers) — part of what locals call Perlon Unggahan Anak Putu Bonokeling — to Kiai Bonokeling’s grave in Banyumas Regency this past March to ask for blessings ahead of Ramadan.
The indigenous community that took part in the traditional ceremony came from a number of places in Cilacap Regency, including Kali Kudi, Tambakreja and Adiraja Villages. The patriarch’s gravesite is located in the village of Pekuncen.
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The community walks as part of a procession connected to the Perlon Unggahan traditional ceremony of welcoming the holy month of Ramadan in Banyumas in Central Java. This ritual — carried out to remember and pray for their ancestors — typically includes hundreds of people from different villages who travel to the Bonokeling cemetery complex.
“This Perlon Unggahan is held once a year in the month of Sadran leading up to the fasting month. The descendants of Bonokeling from the Cilacap area came here. They visit here for friendship and grave’s visit,” said Kyai Sumitro, who serves as spokesman for the Bonokeling community.
Sumitro said that in the Perlon Unggahan series of events, the Bonokeling’s indigenous people offered prayers to ask for safety in this world and the hereafter.
"We pray for a safe world and the hereafter. Facing the month of Ramadan, hopefully we can carry out our worship in … Ramadan smoothly,” he said.
Sumitro said that he hopes young people can continue to preserve and keep this tradition alive, while benefiting others.
“With this traditional tradition, it is hoped that young people will support, preserve and protect each other until the end of time,” he said. “Don’t let the ties that our predecessors made stop, let alone become extinct, and young people can follow the rules here.”
Photos by Garry Lotulung
Hundreds of pilgrims left Cilacap at 3:30 a.m. and arrived in Pekuncen Village at around 4 p.m.
"We were tired and had many challenges. The challenge is if your feet are injured or have cramps,” said one pilgrim who only identified himself as Purwadi. “It's nice to have lots of friends.”
Purwadi said he has been involved in preserving this tradition since he was a teenager or after being circumcised when he was in junior high school.
“This happens every year and has been a tradition since childhood,” he said. “We have followed this tradition from our great-grandfathers to continue to preserve it.”
During the trip, Purwadi and others rested several times by stopping at a number of places. Sweat dripped down the faces of dozens of men who lined up in silence as they entered the traditional market at 10 a.m.
After reaching an empty plot of land and putting down a pair of baskets covered with teak leaves which they carried from the house, they started to chat a little while taking shelter to unwind. At one point, several members began unpacking food in the form of white rice, noodles, cabbage, salted fish and fried tempeh, then ate it alongside their traveling companions.
Not long after, a group of women from the Bonokeling descendants arrived at the market dressed in colorful kebayas and carrying bags made of jarik cloth. They also did the same thing as the group of men who had arrived earlier, taking shelter, eating together, then sleeping for a while to rest.
Kliwon Market is an important stopping place for Bonokeling devotees. But the trek continued under the hot sun. They lined up neatly along the road wearing traditional clothing. The men wore sarongs and headclocths, while the women were dressed in jarik (batik wraparounds) and kemben (breast cloths).
Most of the elderly men in the group made the journey barefoot on concrete and asphalt roads whose surfaces can get very hot. The Bonokeling tradition is a very rare ancient Javanese treasure. He is worried about the continuation of this tradition given that almost 80 percent of followers who embark on this tradition are elderly.
The group of Bonokeling descendants from Cilacap had to rest several times before their luggage was carried by the residents of Pekuncen at the village border because of the difficult terrain they had to cover. Some of the female participants were forced to put wound cover between their toes because the long journey on hot roads left their feet injured.
Provisions are the highlight of the days long journey. They included rice, fruit, salted fish, goat, palm sugar and coconut — all neatly wrapped in teak leaves and put in a bamboo pole so that it was easy to carry uphill.
“These weighs approximately 10 kilograms [22 pounds] divided into two containers,” Purwadi said, while sucking on his cangklong, a type of tobacco pipe.
At the top of the incline, where the sea could be seen in the distance, relatives from Pekuncen Village were waiting to help carry supplies. Residents from outside Pekuncen Village were welcomed as guests when they attended the event which included, among other activities, the grave’s visit, group prayers and the caring for ancestral graves. A big cookout involving butchering goats and dozens of chickens was carried out in celebration.
Although the pilgrimage is exhausting, those who take part said the hard work is an integral part of their beliefs. In fact, the existence of the Bonokeling indigenous community cannot be separated from the figure of Bonokeling. It is said that Bonokeling was a spiritual figure from the Duchy of Pasir Luhur (now the Karanglewas region in Banyumas). This area was once part of the Padjadjaran Kingdom. Bonokeling's arrival to Pekuncen Village was in the context of opening up agricultural areas.
Therefore, the agricultural nuances are the main characteristic of the Bonokeling tradition. The uploading tradition, for example, was originally held before the rice harvest season. The event lasts five days, starting from welcoming guests, praying together, the pilgrimage, congratulations and accompanying guests home.
When Islam arrived in the 16th century, this procession was equated with the Sadran ritual, a tradition tied to visiting and cleaning the graves of ancestors before Ramadan.
Garry Lotulung is an Indonesian freelance photojournalist based in Jakarta, where he reports visual stories in breaking news, politics, social issues and environmental crises. He studied photography at Gallery Foto Journalistic Antara and has worked with Reuters, KOMPAS, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Lotung received Pictures of the Year Asia 2022 for his photographic reportage of the Indonesia Battles Second Wave of COVID-19.