Thousands of people flocked on Thursday to sites in the neighboring cities of Surakarta and Yogyakarta to participate in the traditional Grebeg Maulud ritual to commemorate the birth of Prophet Muhammad.

In Surakarta, Central Java, the ritual was marked with the carrying of six cone-shaped offerings called gunungan from the Kasunanan Surakarta Palace to the Agung Mosque to be blessed by clerics before being distributed to the people.

The six gunungan comprised two gunungan jaler (male gunungan) which included agricultural produce; two gunungan estri (female gunungan), which consisted of processed foods and snacks; and two gunungan anakan (child gunungan) of coins.

Tradition maintains that grabbing something from the gunungan can bring good luck or good fortune, which accounts for why the gunungan were almost gone before the blessing processions had ended.

“They should have waited until the blessing processions had finished,” Satriyo Hadinagoro of the palace’s Grebeg organizing committee said.

A local, Sugiyanto, 40, expressed his happiness at having grabbed something from the gunungan estri. “I have never missed a single Grebeg,” he said.

On Wednesday, the palace had distributed 1,000 sets of kinang (betel chew) and salted duck eggs as part of the Prophet’s birthday commemorations — an event that had not taken place for years — in an effort to bring the palace closer to the people.

Similar scenes were also seen at Alun-alun Selatan square in front of the Kasultanan Yogyakarta Palace. Thousands had begun flocking to the area since early in the morning, hoping to grab something from the seven gunungan used in the ritual after being blessed by clerics.

Five gunungan were placed at the Gede Mosque on one side of the square; one was sent to the governor’s office compound in Kepatihan; while the final one was taken to Puro Pakualaman. The five gunungan at the mosque were finished in less than three minutes.

“I got thiwul [snack made of traditionally processed cassava]. Somebody threw it to me and I caught it,” said Fatimah, 40, happily.

On Wednesday evening, people were also seen flocking to the square to witness the kondur gongso procession in which two sets of gamelan instruments, the Kyai Guntur Madu and Kyai Naga Wilaga, were taken home to the palace after being played in the mosque’s compound for a week prior to the Grebeg.

Separately in Bandung, West Java, local customary institution Sasaka Waruga Pusaka commemorated the Prophet’s birthday by conducting a sacred weapon cleansing ritual called the Ngarumat Barang Pusaka.

The newly cleansed weapons have been there for generations at the Bumi Alit Kabuyutan, a well-preserved Sundanese customary house on the border of Batukarut and Lebakwangi villages in Arjasari, Bandung regency.

“We don’t know when exactly the ritual began. It was already being conducted during my great-grandparents’ time,” said Oman, 64, an elder member in the community.

Among the weapons cleansed were krises, gobang (long swords), kujang (Sundanese dagger), spear heads and rings. Other sacred items that were cleansed included a set of gamelan instruments called the Goong Renteng Embah Bandong.

The ritual cleansing was performed by 12 people who are the gatekeepers of the site and elder members of the local community. They all wore traditional Sundanese, white pangsi attire.

After the ritual, dozens of locals took the water used to cleanse the weapons using plastic bags or bottles. Some were seen afterward washing their faces with the water at the site. “It [the water] can also be used for healing those who believe in such things,” a visitor, Wausilah, 54, from Garut, West Java, said.

Arya Dipa contributed to this article from Bandung.

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