Javanese pray to spirits to prevent more quakes

Yogyakarta (Indonesia), Jun 3: The earthquake that killed more than 6,300 people Indonesia may have been the result of tectonic pressures deep underground but to the spiritual Javanese it was God's will.

Yesterday, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist Javanese prayed and made offerings to their Gods and spirits in the hope of forgiveness amid fear that the nearby smoking volcano, Mount Merapi, would soon erupt.

Despite official assurances that Merapi, while still dangerous, shows no signs of imminent eruption, word is spreading across this ancient city the volcano may erupt within the week.

''I am afraid Merapi will erupt and there will be more earthquakes,'' Chinese-Indonesian Catholic Indra Wibawa, 50, told Reuters from her central Yogyakarta home. ''People say Merapi will explode one week after the earthquake.'' Fortune tellers, or what the Javanese call Dukun, have advised people to prepare amulets, or ''ubo rampe'', as offerings to the spirits and place them above their doors and bury them in their front yard.

The Dukun have said they must do this before Friday night because in the Javanese calendar it is Kliwon, one of the scariest nights of the month when spirits come out, like a Westerner's Friday the 13th.

Wibawa and her neighbour Tjan Hong Ing, 55, also a Catholic, anxiously dug holes in their small gardens yesterday and carefully buried offerings of two bananas, two rice cookies, two coconut leaves, two coins, and three garlic cloves.

''I want to be safe. Merapi may explode but if it happens I pray the impact will not be like the earthquake,'' said Tjan as she shovelled dirt on top of the offering.

In the village of Padukuhan Ngenta, badly damaged by the quake, Ratmo Prawizo, nailed his amulets above his door. ''This is for preventing Merapi,'' he said.

A strong mystical vein runs through Javanese culture. Whatever their faith, Javanese display a deeply spiritual attitude towards reality and many believe that magic is real and practice it within their existing religions.

Lying on the tectonic ''Ring of Fire'', Indonesia has suffered several natural disasters in recent years, such as the tsunami in 2004.

Many believe these disasters are a message from God that the people have strayed.

''It is like the anger of the universe, because we let ourselves live in conflict,'' Ahmad Syafii Maarif, the former head of Muhammadiyah, Indonesia's second largest Muslim organisation, told The Jakarta Post newspaper this week.

Maarif said the Indonesian people had betrayed their island nation by not living in harmony, citing conflicts in Aceh, Papua and Maluku.

Yogyakarta's Sultan, a descendant of the island's royal family, has called on the Javanese to accept the latest disaster as their destiny.

REUTERS

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