The rasol tradition comes from a dynamism-animism which came into contact with the Hindu-Buddhist religion and ultimately came into contact with Islam.
Thus ultimately it merged into religious syncretism and certainly within Java is seen as an Islamic tradition.
The rasol tradition is an inner expression of a heritage which is practiced within a local Islamic belief system.
Rasol seeks to reveal the relationship between humans and Allah through prayer rituals as a way to ask for safety and protection, especially of their agriculture.
This ritual has different names and forms in each community.
For example, at Bawean Island, near Gresik, villagers bathe cows in the sea.
In Madura it is much more like a Slametan feast.
In Gunung Kidul it has a much more mystical and related to appeasing the spirits.
The ritual is intended to ward off danger or disaster for the village.
This ritual is usually held in a place that is considered haunted, or sacred, in our village it is held near the graveyard.
This ritual is offered to Danyang's (the spirit protector), so that the village is protected from danger.
Thus it has a very strong animistic framework, but as I say is seen as Islamic.
That all features of the environment have a consciousness, or spirit.
The spirits of the Danyangs are still believed to magically supervise and determine who will become village head (Pak Lurah).
The spirit of the danyang will be transformed into a pulung .
Some people could see the pulung descending on the selected candidates on the night before the election.
Pulung is shaped like a shining moon and moves towards the house of the village head candidate that Danyang wants.
There is only one pulung for each village, so when a village head dies or resigns, the pulung will leave him and look for a new Pak Lurah.
Anak Danyang is a spirit that helps Danyang to oversee and protect the village.
Danyang children live each in the four corners of the village.
Gunung Kidul holds the highest number of suicides in Indonesia.
It is 9 out of 100,000 pa, higher than Jakarta which is only 2 out of 100,000 pa.
Hanging seems to be the most popular method used.
This is associated with the phenomena of pulung gantung a bright light in the sky, where it falls is said to be where the suicide will occur.
It is thus similar to the Banaspati spirit, that I will talk about in a later vlog.
Gamelan Nyai Saraswati - Ladrang JURUDEMUNG An Evening of Javanese Music and Dance by Gamelan Nyai Saraswati is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 United States License

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