A simple, complete royal Javanese wedding ceremony

The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Sat, 04/02/2005 2:15 PM | Life

Sri Wahyuni, The Jakarta Post/Yogyakarta

Most people perceive Javanese traditional wedding ceremonies, especially ones held for royal weddings a palace, to be drawn-out, exhausting and meticulous, despite the pomp and splendor.

Yet, in fact, to have such a grand wedding ceremony yourself does not need to be exhausting, while at the same time maintaining the sacred values of the rituals, and adhering to the pakem, or agreed reference, for conducting the ceremony.

What was presented during the Wedding Fair 2005 held last weekend at the Santika Jogja Hotel here is such an example.

Called the Paes Ageng Yogyakarta-style wedding, which is a simplified version of the wedding ritual performed at the Yogyakarta Palace that takes days to finish, this one took only some 45 hours to conduct. Yet, it had all the processions that such a traditional wedding ceremony requires.

""The main idea of holding this fair, apart from maintaining local culture, is indeed to provide people with inspirations that Javanese traditional wedding does not have to be meticulous and tiring,"" the hotel's public relations officer Erma Wheny Hertuti told The Jakarta Post.

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Some common practices from a traditional Sundanese (West Java) wedding ceremony:

Welcoming the bridegroom ceremony

• The bridegroom is welcomed with the umbul-umbul, a decoration indicating that a wedding ceremony is going on, which is also auspicious for the bridegroom.
• The welcome is followed by a procession of ladies with candles. They pray to the Almighty seeking His blessing in order that there maybe no hindrances in the ceremony.
• The showering of flowers by the dancers is symbolic of a fragrant future for the couple.
• The umbrella held over the couple's heads, apart from serving as a protective symbol, indicates esteem and respect.
• The mother of the bride gives the bridegroom a garland of flowers indicating his acceptability to the family.
• The mother of the bride gives the bridegroom a keris, a hidden message to the son-in-law not to be disheartened while toiling for his family.

Wedding ceremony

The bride and groom are seated next to each other with a selendang or veil covering their heads indicating two people but having one mind.

The bride and groom bend forward and kiss the knees of their parents, called sungkem, asking for forgiveness and blessing and reassuring them that they will continue to serve their parents.

Sawer

This ceremony should take place in front of the sawer or gargoyle. The water flowing from the gargoyle indicates the continuous flow of priceless parental love for their children.

The bride and groom are seated under an umbrella in front of the entrance to the house. There are two singers, a man and a woman, who sing on behalf of the parents. The song, called kidung, advises the couple to treat each other well, living in harmony, and serves as a prayer to the Almighty to bless the couple.

Then the sawer is showered on the couple. It consists of:

Turmeric rice Rice is a sign of prosperity and yellow stands for everlasting love

Coins Reminding the couple to share their wealth with the less fortunate

Candy Indicates sweetness and fragrance throughout their marriage

A betel nut set near the couple is a reminder that their different customs should not spoil their harmonious marriage