The Mystique of Kuda Kepang.
Precaution: Do not look at the videos if you have a weak heart/spirit :)
I have long been mystified by the ‘art’ of Kuda Kepang. Popular as part of the Malay culture, the dance can be seen usually during special events like weddings or opening ceremonies and is usually accompanied with the soft melodies of the Gamelan. Usually, the performance would involve the participants to dance around with a cutout of a horse, akin to riding that said horse.
However, a more mystic side of Kuda Kepang seems to be on the rise these days, after a dwindling of it for the past few years. Instead of just harnessing the powers of the human body, other ‘external’ forces from the ‘other’ world were called on to make the performance a more intriguing one.
The following would be examples of what I mean by a more intriguing performance:-
… Licking of hot charcoal …
… Eating glass …
… Chewing grass …
What struck me is how unlike a human the participants are once they are in a trance-like state, and instead they seem to have taken on a persona akin to a horse’s (or a rider’s?). It is widely said that they are possessed by some spirits called on by the leaders of the group (the one wielding the whip).
Even though these spiritually-enhanced dances are performed by Malays, there is actually a need here to emphasize that Islam does not condone these performances and it is in fact, Syirik (forbidden) as they call on powers other than that of Allah s.w.t. (This came from my Ustazah, Spritual Teacher).
Personally, I feel that this mystiqued version of Kuda Kepang should not be practiced as they pose a danger to the performers as well as the public watching.
My Ustazah recalled a story where she attended a wedding which had a similar genre of performance happening, and uttered prayers out of shock of seeing it. She then noticed that the dancers who were invincible beforehand now had blood oozing from where they stepped on the glass. The leader of the group, seeing this, started going around forbidding everyone watching from uttering any prayers.
As for the public being endangered, my mom told me that when she was young, these kind of dances were a dime a dozen and she had witnessed many occasions where the watching public were in situations where they could have gotten hurt. For example, she saw a pregnant lady wearing red being chased by one of the dancers!
However, the toned down, purely cultural dance of Kuda Kepang should remain in practice and rightfully speaking, should be the ONLY one remaining in practice. After stripping away the rawness of the souped up version, a very beautiful piece of art will be left, and I think it is only right that this is preserved :)
So what are your thoughts on the souped up Kuda Kepang and have you seen/heard any stories about them? Do share! Kekeke…
P/s. Inspiration and videos from SGfreakylinks.com :) Do visit them for more of such stories!
apa mau tengok kuda kepang. tengok ni har - http://www.jabbawockeez.com/. lagi afdal tau.
but in ’serious’ note, i had a friend back in primary school who is heavily involved in these things. yes he ate glass back then but we all thought it was cool. and his ‘passion’ for it can be seen in his eyes. Cool huh
ahahha eh aku suka group dance too! I saw all their dances on the show. Super rad!!
omg. ive never really seen one before in my life except once, but i ran away. heh. ibu also ran. wakakaka..
hey, i wanna meet your friend ah fit. does he have that kinda bloodshot red eys?? oohh..cool!!
actually i recalled… YES! but we thought it’s because he lacked sleep and all. hahaha!
ahahhha i can so imagine lah..
Thanks for such an interesting post about Malay dance, Faddy. I’ve featured this post to my blog.
Thanks Noel!! :)
[...] gives us an uncut, behind-the-scenes look at the Kuda Kepang, a Malay dance using horse imagery that is employed during festive events - but it also has a [...]
funnily, i was just talking to my mum about it. we were watching indonesian ghost dvds, and she said indonesia is just so scary with all these bomoh things and she will die if shes there. and asked me why is my obsession with indonesia. always go there for what, she couldnt comperehend. i told her with a laugh “what are you talking abt, we are all javanese. all the kechak kechak, kuda kepang, sumpah pocong, bomoh dukun songsang are in our blood, like it anot”. and she was so funny. she said “our jawa is good jawa. we are not bad jawa, our jawa dunno how to sumpah people one”. i laughed till my chair rocked. almost suffered a concussion, but thanks to the sumpah jawa, i was saved from death.
haahhaha but hor, i heard that the jawa people not so bad. the ones who practice these things are usually the boyanese hehehe. anyway tell your mom, in Singapore also berleluasa lah.. just that maybe the stories never reach her ekeke..
why is my obsession = what is my obsession
comperehend = comprehend
typos.
tsk tsk…
i dont understand. what do they get from doing all these things?
it’s scary just watching it..
Dapat duit dari orang yang hire diorang! kekekeke
back in the early 90s, there was one at my cousin’s wedding. i was a young kid and very spooked out. i recalled quite vaguely, one of the fellas ate glass and blood oozed out like nobody’s business. strangely, it was talk of the town that the performance was ‘one the gerek(better) ones around’ and some actually asked my late auntie where did she get the performers from. eeeeks! scary kan?! i do agree however, the clean version should still be practised else it’ll be a lost art.
eeeeeek how come his got blood? maybe he wasn’t fully protected yet as i think you’re not supposed to get any cuts when you’re in the trance! And yay, someone agrees with me hehe!
wah~! such a good post. so interesting. i witness once. That time was like K1. hahax! dgr lagu dia jer da takot. so tgk ngendap2. Very scary scary.. hahax!
hahaa eh but i love the gamelan sound :) favourite!
I dont get it. Does that mean a Kuda Kepang ‘package’ ALWAYS comes wth a COMPULSORY hot charcoal-licking, glass-eating activities etc? If i want one for a wedding, can i request for those parts to be EXCLUDED & have ONLY the ORDINARY horse DANCES instead?
Eh no lah.. they are two different types :) you can choose to hire a normal arts one, or this nong neng version haha..
My late grandma once told me that she was chased by one of those possessed kuda kepang when she went to a Malay wedding, wearing RED! Of course, if she had known that there was going to be kuda kepang at the wedding, she would not have dressed in red… This was in the 60s or maybe even 50s, and like you said, it was common back then esp among the Javanese.
I think the vanilla version is fine for cultural shows, but to have a live one at weddings, eating glass, oozing blood?? It is so controversial! Dangerous too - I cannot imagine how that pregnant woman in red felt. Must have scared the shyt out of her. In any case, the hosts have to inform the guests in advance lah… I mean, it’s a wedding, not a freak show!
Saw the real thing at Batam some 10 over years ago. Fortunately, there was no blood when the guy ate glass, like keropok like that u know. Still, very freaky and I remember I tried to stand as far away as possible… :D [was in a tour group, so couldn't escape... :P ]
This keeps lingering in my mind: “…The leader of the group, seeing this, started going around forbidding everyone watching from uttering any prayers…” Wow… can stop ppl from uttering prayers one…?
In any case, the hosts have to inform the guests in advance lah << Hey i totally agree with this! They should indicate it on the invitation card or something so people yang lemah semangat wont get a shock! Hmm…
And as for the phrase your quoted, thats exactly what I was thinking. My ustazah was SO appalled by his request, she left (if i recall correctly)
Hmmm……to me kuda kepang is a hobby.dun diffrent shade between religion and arts LOL.sekiranya kami memakai setan sudah tentu kuda kepang di singapura ini patut dipupuskn tetapi kita memakai ayat2 yang diambil dari al qur’an supaya lengkap kan doanya dengan keizinan tuhan.:D
If they’re muslims then why do they still do it if it is forbidden? ( though no one confirms this, I believe it is a sin as it can be taken as a form of insult to Allah) The dancing with the horse is still acceptable, but the once they go into a trance, I think it gets ugly and it’s really a wonder to me how one appreciates all the whipping & glass-eating stuffs that they do. I think MUIS should banned kuda kepang if it includes the sadism stuffs, but otherwise I think it’s okay.
i think the ‘forces’ used in this dance qualifies as black magic, and the use of Qur’anic verses simply emphasises the fact that the whole thing is a kind of Shirk. don’t forget, the mushrikeen during the time of RasululLah (pbuh) had also believed in Allah, as well as other ‘gods’ alongside Him. and dance is a kind of Lahw (entertainment) which, according to most (probably even all) Imams is strictly prohibited in Islam, provided certain consequences. heck, i wouldn’t even be watching this stuff if my teacher didn’t give me some wacko project to do about it =P
i think this whole dance certainly is bizarre, and very unbelievable. could it be that the people in the trance can still get cut and bleed, but it’s just that since they’re “possessed”, they can’t feel any pain?