Mitoni is some sort of baby
shower for Javanese. In most part of Indonesia, the ritual is known as
"Nujuh Bulan," referring to the seventh month of pregnancy where the
ritual is usually held.
Most the times, Javanese people living
in Jakarta would skip this ritual for the sake of efficiency, but not with my
friend Adhi. He threw this ritual for his wife, Arnin, about a month ago, and
asked me to cover it. It took me few days to learn about the ritual. I had no
idea what it was like and also I needed to know the run down so as not to miss
any single moment of it.
Thank you for coming.
Thank you for coming.
Pre Ritual
Anyone
covering a ritual ceremony would love to shoot the backstage activity. That
morning, Arnin, the future mother, had to do her own make-up before finally got
someone to dress her hair. And like always, the mirror became my favorite
object to shoot. Prior to the ritual of
Mitoni, a group of women would recite the holy Quran and say prayers for the
baby and the mother. Meanwhile, I captured some items that I thought might be
the details of Mitoni.
Siraman (Shower)
After
the recitation of holy Quran, Arnin returned to her room for final make up
before showing up in front of friends and families who had gathered outside the
house.
The
ritual was begun with Arnin asked for blessings from the elders (her parents,
parents in law, grandparents) and her husband. It was hard for her to do that
while bending over on her knees, considering the pregnancy.
A
big bronze jar of water, filled with flowers was placed next to the chair where
Arnin was going to sit on for the shower. There were totally seven people who would
shower her with the water. Each shower came with a whisper, hoping to cleanse and purify
the soul of the future mother.
All the rituals following the shower
stressed more to the process of the labor. By breaking an egg, by dropping it
down through the white cloth that covered the future mother, the baby was
expected to be delivered easily without hurting the mother too much. After
that, a white thread was cut off by the future father as a symbol of
cutting off the umbilical cord, followed with a young coconut leave as a symbol
of getting rid of all the obstacles that might come during the labor.
Brojolan
Symbolizing the baby, two green
coconuts, called Cengkir Gading, were dropped down carefully one by one,
passing through the white cloth that covered the mother and then caught up carefully
at the bottom by the future grandmother. As if those had been real babies who
had been just born, the grandmas cuddled them and sing a song to calm ‘the
babies.’
Coming from Semarang, Central Java,
Adhi’s mother sang a Javanese song that I had never heard before, but somehow I
felt familiar with that song. It was more like a hum and it was simply tranquilizing.
I guessed I had heard it in – perhaps – my previous life. As for Arnin’s
mother, coming from Jakarta, this thing was challenging. She couldn’t sing a
Javanese song. So, she came up with a popular Indonesian song, Nina Bobo,
commonly sung to put a baby to sleep.
For Javanese, ideal figures picturing
a beautiful woman and a handsome man were Dewi Kumoratih and Kamajaya. Both
were deity figures from Hindu mythology. Each figure was painted on each
coconut, in a hope that the baby who was going to be born in the next two
months would be either handsome or pretty.
Patutan
The mood became more festive when the
master of ceremony brought out seven colorful clothes of batik with different
motives. Each motive represented different meaning that would hopefully be the
character of the baby. Those were: Sidomukti (happiness), Sidoluhur (nobleness),
Truntum (positive value), Parangkusuma (the never-give-up attitude), Semen Rama
(the everlasting love), Udan Riris (well accepted), and Cakar Ayam (Self
determination).
Each cloth would be paired with a
kabaya which also came in seven different colors. They were put together one by
one on the future mother. It was more
like a trial. Everytime a cloth was paired with a kabaya, the MC would ask the
guests: “are these matched?” And as it had been set up, they would say: “no…”
Seven clothes, seven kabayas, and seven times they said no.
At the end, the future father picked
up a batik cloth with a motive of Lasem, paired with a kabaya of Dringin, and
put those together on the future mother. All of sudden, the guest said: “yes,
those are matched.” They believed that the baby would like the father to pick
up the kabaya and the cloth for the mother.
Long before the invention of
ultrasonography, Javanese people had already had their own way to figure out
the sex of the baby while it was still in the womb.
Adhi, the future father, picked up one
green coconut which had been painted with deity figures from Hindu mythology
from his back. The one he picked
happened to be painted with the picture of Kamajaya. So, it’s a baby boy then.
If he had picked Kumoratih, it would have been a baby girl.
He split the coconut with some sort of
machete to extract the water which was later poured into a glass and handed it
to Arnin as the future mother.
This following part of Mitoni was
perhaps what most guests had been waiting for since the morning. I didn’t have
a clue what the particular Javanese term for this, but it was very well known
as “Jualan Rujak & Dawet,” roughly translated as selling rujak and dawet,
with Adhi and Arnin as the seller. It was not a real trade for money of course.
They used artificial currency, traditionally made from clay. Every guest received
the ‘money’ from Arnin before lining up to buy either rujak or dawet.
Apparently for Javanese, an offering
is a must in every ritual or ceremony. But since most Muslim Javanese don’t
practice syncretism any longer, the offering, which commonly comes in the form
of food, is today made to be consumed.
A set of Nasi Tumpeng (rice cone) was
placed at the centre piece. Adhi and Arnin, took turns to cut a piece of it, and
dedicated them to their parents as the symbol of respect. Each of the parents spoon-fed
each other as the symbol of love, followed by Arnin and Adhi as the future
parents. That was the last part of the ritual. Few
weeks after the ritual, Arnin gave a birth to a baby boy which came few weeks
earlier to this world.
- Friday, August 24, 2012
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