RASULAN

Rasulan, a Unique Custom from Gunungkidul

By: Syam Setiyo W.

Indonesia is a special country that is usually called an archipelago because it is the only one country that has thousand Islands in its region. By having the thousands of Islands, Indonesia becomes very rich of culture, ethnic and custom. The culture, ethnic and custom’s existence makes Indonesia more colorful. East, West, South and North areas are full of uniqueness. Village and city serve their own beautiful customs and culture.

By the way, have you ever heard about one of Indonesian customs called rasulan? If NO, I will give you a small window to know what rasulan is.  Rasulan or Bersih Desa is a traditional custom from Gunungkidul, Yogyakarta. The purpose of this celebration is to thank to God for the harvest and prosperity in a year. But Gunungkidul societies don’t celebrate it at the same time because it depends on each village’s policy.

The things that cannot be separated from rasulan are peyek chips, reog/ jathilan/ doger (traditional dance that is performed by some people), wayang kulit (traditional custom that performs puppets and pewayangan story) and visiting family and friends who celebrate rasulan event. Rasulan event itself is started by the societies by cleaning and making tidy the environment together to welcome this event. After that, they send foods to family and friends who have not celebrated this event yet. These kinds of activities are done several days before the D-day. Besides, a village youth organization conducts some activities like volleyball championship and traditional game championship including balap karung, makan kerupuk, lari kelereng, etc. These championships are followed by all elements of societies start from children to adults. They don’t prior on winning the championships and games but prior on tightening their brotherhood and friendship. Usually, the societies will also hold praying together activity to enliven rasulan event.

When the D-day comes, the societies serve their foods in tenggok (traditional big and large food place that is made of bamboo) and then collect the foods in chief RW’s house in early morning. The societies also made gunungan (imitation of animal, house and so on) from the unused cement case or cardboard to support rasulan event before. Vegetables, fruits and other harvest are also placed under the gunungan. After the food and gunungan are ready, reog comes and helps the societies to bring and guide the foods and the gunungan from chief RW’s house to Balai Desa (public hall) to be prayed together and then they will eat together and also bring the prayed food home for their family. After that, reog/  jathilan/ doger perform until afternoon to entertain the societies. And then, there will be wayang performance all night to close this event because wayang performance is a must in rasulan event.

Rasulan itself has some point of views. From the myth side, the societies do believe if they don’t celebrate and hold rasulan, there will be a disaster and disease in their place so that the societies never forget to hold rasulan. In the other hand, the societies have a responsibility to celebrate and hold rasulan event because it is an inheritance that is done by the ancestor continuously.

From the cultural side, there is an urgency point for the societies to hold rasulan event since there are lots of foreign culture which assimilate to our own culture and custom. As good Indonesian people, the societies are responsible to defend their own culture and custom like rasulan that needs to be introduced for broad societies to balance foreign culture with our own culture and custom. Besides, rasulan brings very positive effects for the societies. By conducting rasulan every year, the society especially young generation will preserve rasulan custom and other traditional customs like reog, jathilan, doger, wayang etc. Young generations will learn from these customs and bequeath them to the next generation so that they will not go easily because of globalization era.

From the social side, rasulan tightens and strengthens the brotherhood and friendship of the societies. It is because the activities in rasulan involve all elements of the societies either to work or play games together for a sublime purpose, enliven rasulan event.

 From the economical side, rasulan helps the societies to spin the economical chain. When rasulan comes, people buy food materials and supplies like tofu, chili, chicken, eggs, chips, rice, flour, sugar, onion and other food materials from the shop around. The street vendors near the performance stages will also gain money from the visitors.

If you want to experience and feel rasulan yourself, just go to Gunungkidul. But it is better for you to ensure that you go there in the right time when there is a rasulan celebration there. Happy reading and be proud of our own culture, ethnic and custom.