Travel Notes

Further south, at about 30 km from the town, is the old site of Macan Putih (white tiger), which is said to be the ancient seat of government of the former kings of Blambangan, including the legendary Tawang Alun and Minak Jingga.
From Banyuwangi we passed into flat, open country. Here, the rice fields are everywhere decorated with a type of noisy whirring windmill, set high up on a long bamboo pole. Known as ngoling, these objects are not, as might be thought, bird scarers, but are simply for enjoyment. In fact, we were told, regular ngoling competitions are held to determine which one has the best sound.

One of the pleasures of driving through Java is the surprise element. Entering a small, nondescript village, we suddenly heard loud, blaring music and saw a large crowd of people assembled by the side of the road. Some type of performance was obviously in progress. We stopped to investigate. In this case it was a traditional popular event known as jaran kepang, or simply jaranan, the 'hobby horse' dance, which can be found throughout the island in numerous forms.The essential element is a flat, painted horse, usually made from plaited bamboo, which the dancer places between his legs and 'rides'. The performance reaches its climax when a trance state is induced in the dancer, usually by way of a subtle change in the music. At this point anything can happen. Typically, the performer starts behaving like a horse, rolling in mud, galloping around, snorting and neighing, at which point attendants keep a watchful eye on him to make sure that things don't go completely out of control. This, in fact, occurred during the performance which we witnessed. It began harmlessly enough with two clownlike characters confronting each other and exchanging jokes. "Now the music's changing", someone said, and immediately the mood of the performers, as well as the crowd, altered. One of the characters writhed in the dust while the other glared at the onlookers, who had begun to taunt him. The two dancers then began to beat each other with sticks, seemingly to no ill effect, after which one of them ran amok and had to be restrained forcibly.The enjoyment, of course, came from the excitement of the unexpected, with the added spice of controlled danger. It is not difficult to imagine how, in the past, these types of performances held a religious significance, as they still do today to some extent. Rather like the primitive shaman, entering into a trance state meant contact with unseen forces and the world of the supernatural. For the local people, trance dancing and states of 'possession' are quite normal, every day occurrences and the audience consisted of many young children, as well as mothers carrying their babies; all good clean family fun. We were to discover later that the leading performer, when not running around in a wild trance state, was actually a school teacher.



Back To Discovering Menu