Indonesia: Life In The Islands

Retreat (From Sanity)

The last three days I’ve been on a retreat for SMA 3 students and teachers in the mountain village of Bedhol. The experience was eye-opening in more ways than one—I saw how differently Indonesian schools operate as opposed to American, spent a lot of time getting to know the teachers and students, and was exposed to many more Indonesian and Javanese customs. The village itself was at the top of a mountain in an absolutely beautiful location—but it was also very poor. The streets were made of dirt and dust was everywhere, and the leader of the village told me that Bedhol was the poorest place on the mountain. Despite that fact, the villagers made us feel extremely welcome and opened their houses to us—literally. The students slept six in a bed on the floors of the houses, while the teachers slept 2 or 3 to a bed in other rooms—except me. I really think the teachers at SMA 3 believe Americans will freak out without privacy, because they gave me my own huge (comparatively) room while everyone else, including the principal, shared with at least one other person. I felt bad, but volunteering to share only makes people awkward and it’s not worth getting into.

Bedol is surrounded by taller peaks, and the villagers make their living by farming. There were cabbage patches, chili pepper fields, and lots of grisan (a type of flower) in the grrenhouse. It was hot during the day, but surprisingly cold in the mornings and the middle of the night. The streets were overun with chickens, roosters, cats, and ducks. I met the town "cow" (actually a bull, but no one seemed aware of that fact) and got to hold some baby lambs. It was far removed from any place I've ever been, but the natural beauty was amazing.

I’m going to write more about the retreat later, but now I just want to focus on one thing that really disturbed me.

After dinner and among-among (chatting) with the teachers on our second night, I decided to go watch the music and art festival the students were hosting with the villagers. It was held outside in the courtyard of the local elementary school. There were a variety of school bands playing first, and they were good enough that it was really fun to watch them (even though the songs were in Indonesian and I knew about every 10^th word).

After the music, some men from the village moved everyone back into a semi-circle. They brought out two drums, one large and one smaller. The boy behind me said we were going to watch some kind of martial arts. The next hour frightened me so badly I left the arena in tears. As we stepped back, all of a sudden students started pushing and jostling one another. Two men were locked together inside the crowd, one struggling to get free. From what I could understand, the man who was struggling was possessed by a spirit. Other men grabbed him and ripped off most of his clothes, and then the man fell down onto all fours and started creeping around the perimeter of the circle. His head kept lolling back and forth, and the look in his eyes was completely blank. As he crawled around the circle like some kind of weird spider-animal, another villager, acting as a tamer, came over and whispered into his ear. At this point, two men were beating the drums solemnly. I think the thing that made the whole experience so spooky was the vibe of the crowd. The students and villagers were whispering uneasily, as if just like me, they didn’t know what was going to happen next.

Just then, there were some screams from the other side of the circle as another man became possessed and spun around uncontrollably. Immediately five men ran over to subdue him, pinning him to the ground and taking off his clothes just like the first. At this point I was incredibly scared and asked the boy behind me what we were watching. Hs name was Bagus, and earlier that night he had declared himself my protector. I don’t know if this translated exactly, but he said we were watching an exorcism.

As the two men crept inside the circle and occasionally lunged toward the crowd, causing screams and pushing, the man in the middle whispered to them and tried to calm them by holding their faces. People on the sidelines petted their heads when they came by, like they were some crazy animals who needed to be tamed. While the two possessed men were going around the perimeter, the promised “martial arts” was taking place in the center. Men performed some karate and jujitsu moves as they mock fought with each other and moved in sync.

Halfway through this performance, another person from the crowd became possessed. This time it was a younger boy. All the students and villagers gasped and pushed to get away from his writhing and lunging body. I was scared out of my mind, and I felt the hands of the students on me, pulling me backwards. They were saying, “pray to your God for safety, pray to your God for safety,” and Bagus literally picked me up and tugged me backwards away from the possessed boy. Once I got back I started to cry because I had never seen anyone look the way he did. His face and body were so tortured as he threw his head side to side, his eyes flashing around but not really seeing anything. He started to foam at the mouth as he moved quickly but stiffly across the circle. Some of the students saw me crying and ran over to hug me, but they were shaking, and I could tell them were just as scared as I was. A bunch of the girls started to sob and the older boys had to escort them out of the courtyard. The students near me told me to leave, but I wanted to see what was going to happen next. Some of the girls held my hands and arms and whispered to me that it was extremely safe and they would protect me. Whenever the possesed men came toward me, I was immediately gripped on all sides and pulled backwards.

At this point, more villagers brought costumes for the first two possessed men to put on. One was dressed as a bull, the other a tiger. The tamer stood in the center and cracked a giant whip as the costumed men moved irregularly. I got another big scare when the man dressed as the bull lunged again, and it took three men to pin him down and calm him. There was definitely something going on with these villagers, they weren’t just acting. The crowd was on edge the entire time, as if most people were poised to run if something went wrong. Eventually the tamer cracked the whip and forced the possessed men and boy into a room out of site. The martial arts continued in the middle, but I had seen enough—Bagus and his girlfriend walked me home. I tried to extract from them exactly what had happened, but the language gap was too big. They used the phrases "genie" and "spirits," and when I asked if the men were possessed by the devil, they said no. I think they were in a trance of some sort, maybe brought on by the drums. The students I passed on the way home all wished me good dreams, but there certainly weren't going to be any sweet dreams after what I had just saw.

Phew. Anyway, tomorrow afternoon Layne and I are making an exodus to see some of the other ETA's in Yogyakarta for the weekend (we have Monday off because it's the start of Ramadan). I'm so excited to see another part of Indonesia even though we have to take a bus eight hours to get there! Be back Monday night.

posted by Caitlin @ 9:33 PM