Saturday, April 15, 2006

Bekakak, a bloody ceremony to slaughter the brides…!

“Slaughter the brides..! Spread out their flesh and blood to the crowd..! Give them to us. We want to eat them, now…!” people in the crowd were yelling.

Couple hours before, people brought the brides around the village and finally brought them to the altar of Gunung Gamping (gamping – limestone) the place where the bride will be slaughtered.

Minutes after, some people from
Yogyakarta Sultanate Palace slaughtered the bride. When the sharp knife cutting the bride neck, the blood running out…! The crowd was held their breath, it is so silent. After the brides were slaughtered, the slaughter man spread out the bride flesh to the crowd.
The people were scrambling in the crowd to get the small piece of the bride flesh.


“Hmm, the flesh is so crispy, and the blood is so sweet…!” people said.


Wait a minute, why the people are so cruel? Are they cannibals? Oh, of course they are not. They just did their tradition called BEKAKAK. This ceremony is to honor their ancestor, Ki Wirosuto and Nyi Wirosuto. Ki and Nyi Wirosuto is a husband and wife who serve the Royal Family of Yogyakarta Sultanate, who killed in a mount slide in Mount of Gamping in 1755, right in month of Sapar (Safar).

The story began when the Sultan Hamengkubuwono I build his palace on 1755. As a beloved servant who helped Sultan Hamengkubowono I on his escape from the Dutch troop siege in Solo Palace, Ki Wirosuto asked by the Sultan to stay in Ambarketawang home stay during the palace building project in progress. But he was refused, and prefers live in a cave in Mount of Gamping to Amb
arketawang. In Friday 10th and 15th there was a mount slide, and Wirosuto family killed, buried in the limes tones, and their body never be founded.

In the beginning, this BEKAKAK ceremony is to honoring Ki and Nyi Wirosuto for their loyalty to Sultan Hamengkubowono I. Recently, the ceremony is to get the blessing from Ki Wirosuto for the village, since the main job of local people is limestone harvester. It is a very dangerous job, so they need Ki Wirosuto blessing to avoid the bad things from happens. In this ceremony, people slaughtering the brides doll made from soft rice flour and liquid sugar, as a symbol of sacrifice –no wonder their flesh are crispy and their blood are so sweet. There is a wish, with doing this sacrifice they can avoid disaster in Mount of Gamping.

Well, that’s all folks. They are not cruel or cannibal. They are just ordinary villagers.


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