At the beginning of May 2016, The Yogyakarta Palace held a Labuhan ceremony, a royal event to commemorate the coronation of the Sultan by giving offerings to the South Sea, Mount Merapi and Mount Lawu.

This year’s ceremony was special as it coincided with the 70th birthday anniversary of Sultan Hamengku Buwono X. This rare coincidence was marked by the staging of the Bedaya Tirta Hayuningrat dance, specially created by the Sultan himself.

The sacred and symbolic dance was staged by nine dancers, four of them the Sultan’s daughters, at Bangsal Kencana [the golden auditorium]. The nine dancers symbolize the nine holes in the human body, where lust reigns, that must be controlled.

During the history of the royal kingdom, the classical Bedaya was only performed during special moments when the Sultan meditated, abstained from worldly pleasure, unified with the nature, communicated with the ancestors and prayed to God.

Politically, the Bedaya Tirta Hayuningrat symbolizes the Sultan’s obligation to the people, just like the flow of a river. It also symbolizes the leader’s role in harmonizing people with nature and the Creator, just like the shadow-puppet figure Arjuna in the Mahabarata story.

 
“This Bedaya dance describes what and how an ideal leader should be, such as the ability to implement manunggaling kawula gusti [the unification of people with a leader] concept,” said Gusti Mangkubumi, the oldest daughter of the Sultan.

 
A similar philosophy is symbolized through the Labuhan ceremony, which involves several offerings, namely flowers, batik, the Sultan’s used clothes, a clip of his nail and a strand of his hair. They are offered to the ancestors and the Creator at three spots.

 
The first spot is Parangkusumo beach, where the offerings are floated. This spot was known as the place where Panembahan Senopati—the founder of the Islamic Mataram Kingdom—met with the ruler of the spirit-realm of the South Sea, Kangjeng Ratu Kidul.

 
The beautiful spirit ruler is said to have pledged assistance to Panembahan Senopati as long as his successor kept communicating with her. One of the lines of communication was through the yearly Labuhan ceremony.

The second spot is Mount Merapi. Here, the ruler of the spirit-realm, named Gusti Panembahan Sapujagad, resided. Just like Ratu Kidul, he pledged his spiritual support as long as the predecessor of the kingdom provided offerings.

Up until now, supernatural relations are maintained by the Yogyakarta Palace with offerings such as new clothes, fabrics, seasoned rice to the mystical Merapi Kingdom.

The third spot is Mount Lawu, located right on the border of East Java and Central Java. The mountain is thought to be the place where the last King of Majapahit Prabu Brawijaya V reached his spiritual and physical release [moksha]

The Labuhan ceremony symbolizes harmony between men and the spirit realm, the Sultan and his people, humans and nature, as well as creatures and their Creator. [gs]

JP/ Tarko Sudiarno