Javanese Superstition

Last Saturday I attended my auntie's funeral in Jakarta. My big family is scaterred all over Indonesia but for this special occasion, everbody came to pay the last homade to our beloved auntie. It was like a family reunion where you can meet everybody, including one of my cousins named Agus. At that time, he was so healthy. Although he was a litle bit tired (because of 12 hour-trip-by-train) but it was clear to me that he was happy to meet all of us. He was so excited in telling us about his plan to hold a party for his first daughter's wedding. He couldn't wait for that. When we had to separate to go back to our homes, he said to everybody,"Please keep your health so that you can come to my daughter's weddingb party. I am looking forward to seeing you all there". And since he and I live in the same city-Solo, he said to me, " See you in tha airport. Hopefully we will meet there although we will go with different airplane". But we didn't meet each other in the airport. And it was our last meeting because on Tuesday afternoon I got a phone call from my brother informing that Agus passed away!! "How could it be?" I asked myself. But believe it or not, he has already gone.
Do you believe in superstition?
Well...Javanese believe that if someone passed away on Saturday, he/she will "Ask" others. Meaning that after his/her death, there will be six other people in his/her family die in short time, not more than 3 months.
Because Aunt Yud passed away on Saturday, so she asked Agus to "go" with her. Actually this is not the first time this thing happened in my big family. Around 10 years ago, 6 of our family members passed away in about 3 months. It was started by an Aunt ..who passed away on saturday.

Amazing Bromo 1

Last long weekend I went to Mount Bromo. Actually I have had a plan to visit Bromo since long long time ago but because of the hustle bustle of life, I always cancell it. Thank God, I made it last week.
The journey was started from Surabaya. My sister's family and I (we were 5 altogether) left Surabaya at 2. 15 a.m. We headed to Pasuruan. At first we wanted to take Pasuruan-warung Dowo- Tosari-Wonokitri- Bromo routebut we coudn't find Warung Dowo intersection, so we turned around and went back to Pasuruan-Tongas-Bromo. It took us around 1.5 hour to drive from Tongas to Mount Bromo. because the trip was in the m orning, all we could see was darkness. Nothing else. Scary. hi..hi..

Fantastic Bromo 2

When we were about to arrive in Bromo, the journey was really...really amazing. Can you imagine this: You were in a running car, the pale moon was in front of you, very low that you thought you could reach it; the soft golden bright sun was behind you, while darkness hugged you. Magic.

Finally we arrived in Bromo at 5.30 am. We left the car in the parking area and continued our trip by using 4-wheel drive car rented by the park (Bromo is under the management of Bromo Semeru National Park). First we went to Pananjakan where we could see mount Batok, Bromo crater and mount Semeru. All of them were sorounded by thick fog on the base and getting thinner and thinner toward the top. It was really amazing. I couldn't stop taking pictures and neither could other visitors. Besides taking pictures, we also had breakfast here. A bowl of instant noodle plus a cup of hot tea eaten in a cold morning. Hm...yummy!

Ponari

That is a name of a young boy aged 10 years old. He lives in a village called Balongsari, Jombang, East Java. He is so famous throughout Indonesia lately just because he has a "Magic" stone that is believed can cure any kind of desease. YES. Cure. Any kind of disease. Strange, huh??
For those who live in a modern country, this phenomena is nonsense, something redicolous. But for people who live in some villages in Indonesia, this is something miracolous. So, many people come to his decent house to seek for magical treatment (not medical treatment, ha..ha..). Everyday, he treated more than 5.000 people. Once, there were more than 10.000 people came to his house. The situation was so crowded that made 4 people killed because they were lack of oxygen and energy.
Actually the authority has banned him. He may not give any magical treatment since it is illogical. Ponari case becomes so interesting because although some Ullemas say that it is Haram (prohobitted by Islamic law) but people still come to Ponari. It is something unusual. In Indonesia, Fatwa Ulama (What Ullema said) is considered to be the highest rule. Normally people will obey that Fatwa. But in Ponari case, it doesn't happen taht way.

Iedul Adha

Last December 8, 2008 was a holiday day for Muslim. It was Iedul Adha day, a day to sacrifice. In Java, people usually sacrifice goats or cows.

Early in the morning, we started the ritual by praying together (that we called Sholat Ied) in a field. Usually I do this pray in the field in my village but this year I accompanied my mom praying together in the field a little bit far from my house. Let me tell you a bit about my mom. She is already 68 and suffering from Osteoarthritis so that she finds difficulty in walking and doing sholat properly. Everytime she has to do sholat, she uses a small stole to sit in.
But on that Iedul Adha day, after praying, my mom -like any other javanese people- wanted to see the slaughtering of the animals sacrificed!! You know, to see that activity she has to walk to the field and then stand in the middle of the crowd under the sun for several hours.
it was really amazing that she was not fainted.

The Origin of The Name

In the first post, I would like to tell you why the name is Stories From Java. Java...because that is the place where I live. You know...it is in Indonesia..he..he.. Stories..because I want to write down some stories, factual or imaginary that comes from Java: the people, the place, the moment.
Hopefully you will like my stories.