D

ede Wijaya, 34, never thought he would become a puppeteer. Yet, since 2007, the resident of Kasepuhan Ciptagelar, Sirnaresmi subdistrict, Cisolok district of Sukabumi regency, West Java, has been given the mandate of continuing his father’s and grandfather’s profession.

“So, I started performing first and learned later,” Dede said at the launch of the book Wayang Golek [wooden puppets] of Ciptagelar: Notes on Its History, Development and Recent Condition in Bandung, West Java, recently.

Performing a puppet show in this particular village is different from other places. In Ciptagelar, the resident assigned to be the puppeteer along with a traditional gamelan orchestra has to perform the show during the full moon or rice planting, regardless of whether there is anyone watching.

“The puppet show is performed here 34 times a year,” Yoyo Yogasmana, a local resident and spokesperson for Kasepuhan Ciptagelar, said.

The 300 families of Kasepuhan Ciptagelar have been practicing the traditions, which is passed down between generations, for hundreds of years.

This includes the tradition of storing harvests and seeds in barns, or leuit as they are locally known.

Puppet shows are performed at every customary event related to agriculture such as Ngaseuk, Turun Nyambut, Mipit, Mocong, Ngunjal, Nganyaran, Serentaun and hajat Agustusan. Other aspects of the show are traditional angklung instruments, dangdut, masked dancers and a percussion orchestra playing traditional songs.

Research on Ciptagelar puppetry has been conducted by five people from outside the village, namely lecturer and chairman of the Pasundan University’s Sunda culture institution Hawe Setiawan; Amin R Iskandar of the Sunda research Center, Gustaff H Iskandar, the founder of Common Room; puppeteer Opick S Sunarya and Andar Manik, activist of Jendela Ide Cultural Institution.

The researchers estimate that the Wayang Golek tradition has been there since 1898, when Kasepuhan Ciptagelar was under the leadership of Abah Uyut Bojong.

With regard to the creation of Wayang Golek, Opick Sunandar Sunarya, expressed his belief that Ciptagelar people started to produce the puppets independently.

He said the physical form of Wayang Golek puppets in Ciptagelar were different from those developed in Bandung since 1840 by artisan Ki Darman. They had different faces, he said.

If the Ciptagelar puppets have had round faces since the 1960s, the ones in Bandung have thin faces. The character of Hanoman is different too, usually the tail is curled around its body, but in Ciptagelar the tail is on its head like in leather puppets, Opick said.

According to Amin, most Ciptagelar puppets should not be used any longer, considering their fragile condition. “Some were broken and reconnected,” said Amin.

Initially there were two sets of puppets, he added. One was for performances inside Kasepuhan, the other was for playing outside it. Unfortunately there is currently only one set left, with 65 puppets but a lesser number of characters as some characters had more than one puppet.

The researchers also recommended that the remaining Ciptagelar puppets be saved by displaying them in a museum.