Culture and Special Events

Wayang refers to a theatrical performance, whether it be of actors/dancers, puppets, or the shadow images created when silhouetted puppet figures are held behind a back-lit screen. One of the most outstanding and unique forms of art in Indonesia is the classical wayang performance. Of these, the most popular is the highly developed and sophisticated Wayang Purwa or Wayang Kulit. This is a shadow play performed by a narrator called a Dalang, who manipulates the leather puppets, the wayangs, to the accompaniment of an orchestra, the gamelan.

It is performed by narrator and puppeteers at the same time directing the entire performance accompanied by the gamelan orchestra and one or more lady singers.

The word wayang is said to stem from Wahyu which means to reveal spiritual inspiration. Linguistically, the root word "yang" which mean "who" or "which" appears in Indonesian and regional languages. Wayang kulit is one of the most popular plays among the Javanese, containing stories based on two Hinduism epics, the Mahabarata (The Great War of Bharata family) and the Ramayana (The Story of Rama) which were brought by the Hindus from India as early as the first century A.D. During the time of intense Hindu influence (8^th to 15^th centuries), Hindu teachers used the wayang medium to popularized their religion. when Hinduism began to give away to Islam in the 13^th century, Muslim added their literary figures to the cast of characters. The theme which prevailed throughout all of these stories was the eternal struggle between the forces of good and evil, with the good always triumphant. If you visit one of these, be prepared for along sit-in as these performances can take several hours.