I long to return to the "House of Culture" museum in Yogjakarta, a real "Atlas" of Javanese culture and history.
I am mesmerised by the section on the "Batyk", shawls that are worn in ceremonies marking the main stages in a person's life:
- birth, where the "gendogan" batyk is meant to wish good luck to the newborn;
- "Mitoni", taking place at 7 months of pregnancy;
- Adolescence (with a ceremony for boys when they get circumcised and girls when they have their first menstruation);
- Wedding, preceded by an engagement ceremony, where various batyk mark the 7 days of the rituals; The spouses often wear Sidomukti (to become noble/prosperous) or Truntum (reawakened love) to bless their union.
- Turning 64- as a person can be thought of having lived life to its full and to have acquired wisdom.
- Death, marked by dark tones.

Batyk also reveal a person's social status, as some patterns are exclusive to the "elite" and are forbidden to the "commoners". An example is the "Parang" - a diagonal "S" patterns representing waves of swords. They symbolize power and authority; the larger the motif, the higher the wearer's rank.

I wonder how virtually all human societies are characterised by rites of passage marking birth, adolescence, wedding, and death. We have more in common that what we could think of. More on my YT: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLJL-sRWA7R4-tCkqYDPa3323wgLuqOBZg 67/

#RefuseToFly #ClimateEmergency #Slowtravel #decarbonise #ClimateAction #Sonobudoyu #Java #Indonesia #Yogjakarta #RitesOfPassage #Batyk