Communal Feast Slametan: ‎ Belief System, Ritual, and the Ideal of Javanese Society

  • Ahmad Hakam Universitas Negeri Jakarta
Keywords: slametan, Javanese cultures, muslim societies

Abstract

This paper focuses on the Javanese Muslims religious belief and its ritual, slametan, ‎which is prevalently performed in Java. This ritual is of great significance to the ‎Javanese Muslim community, and is counted as syncretistic ritual of Islamic and the ‎Javanese traditions. The ritual is though analysed in relation to the society ideal of unity ‎and harmony as the standard set for the indicator that the life of people is in order and ‎in a slamet condition or ‘nothing happens’. This paper argues that this ceremony is the ‎main ritual among Javanese Muslims which to a large extent reflects and symbolises the ‎religious belief, slamet principle of the people living together, and having strong ‎awareness of others. This ideal in the end conceives some element of sacredness which ‎has the influence on the relationship between individual and social behaviour.‎

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Published
2017-01-30
How to Cite
Hakam, A. (2017). Communal Feast Slametan: ‎ Belief System, Ritual, and the Ideal of Javanese Society. Hayula: Indonesian Journal of Multidisciplinary Islamic Studies, 1(1), 95-110. https://doi.org/10.21009/hayula.001.1.06

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