Ruwatan to Banish the Bad Luck

Javanese has various traditions, which related to rites or ceremonies. Many

aspects of life of the Javanese begin with ceremonies. A ceremony seems become
the initiation to start, end or avoid something. Among ceremonies, there is one,
which is very important to perform. For those who believe, this ceremony will
improve the quality of life. Not only will it improve the economic aspect but also
health, relationship, peace, welfare and luck. The ceremony is Ruwatan.
Ruwatan comes from the old Javanese language ‘mangruwat’. The meaning is to
release or set free. The ceremony is essentially to pray to the God, asking
protection and prevention from all disturbances. Therefore, the interesting things
are on how the rite is performed and who should be involved.
For whom is the rite?
Before we discuss how the rite is performed, we have to know firstly on who
should be involved. This is important because ruwatan should be performed for
persons or thing with certain condition. This rite is for persons which is in the
‘sukerta’ category. The sukerta category can be ontang-anting (a child without
brother or sister), kedhana-kedhini (a son and a daughter), kembang sepasang
(two daughters), sendhang kapit pancuran (two daughters and a son, in which the
son is born after the first daughter), pancuran kapit sendhang (two sons and a
daughter, in which the daughter is born after the first son). The persons with
sukerta category or we can call them as the patients, have bad luck that should
be neutralized. The goal of this ceremony is to banish the sukerta (bad luck).
The Procession
The one who lead the ceremony is usually a person with spiritual ability.
Commonly, a dalang (puppeteer of traditional Javanese shadow plays) leads the
procession. The procession of ruwatan consists of four basic steps. The first is
taking a bath. The patients wear pasatan (bathing cloth), the leader pours water
over them. The water consists of kanthil (magnolia), mawar (rose) and melati
(jasmine) flowers. The second step is hair cutting. Only a few hairs are cutted as
symbol to banish the sukerta. The third is floating the pasatan and the hair to the
sea. The fourth is the Javanese shadow puppet performance.
The shadow puppet performance is not merely a show but it consists of prays. It
plays certain story namely Murwakala. It tells the beginning of the calamity occurs
on earth. It is Batara Kala, a giant god, who asks food to Batara Guru, the king of
gods. Batara Guru is afraid if Batara Kala will eat everything. Therefore, Batara
Guru makes limitations on who can be eaten by Batara Kala. The human who may
be eaten are those in the sukerta category. Then, Batara Kala comes down to
earth to find victims. However, he gets no victim because Ki Dalang
Kandhabuwana (the puppeteer) protects the people in the sukerta category. Ki
Dalang Kandhabuwana spells magic words (a prayer) to defeat and banish the evil
power of Batara Kala. The evil power is vanished, this also banish the sukerta
from the patients.

Traditional ceremony (ruwatan) is a tradition which has been

going and passed on for generations in Javanese community.
The word ruwatan comes from Kawi language which means
free or healed. So, ruwatan means ceremony of wishing and
hoping to get free from all kind of misfortune. In ruwatan,
luric fabrics are essential and worn in ceremonial series .
Dalam tradisi Jawa, ruwatan adalah prosesi spiritual untuk membuang kesialan hidup orang-orang
yang sedang dalam sukerta (susah) Orang-orang sukerta ini, menurut cerita adalah orang-orang yang
akan dimangsa oleh Batara Kala.
Untuk keluar dari sukerta seseorang harus diruwat.Dalam upacara ini seorang dalang melakukan
penyiraman air suci dan penguntingan rambut kepada peserta ruwat dan kemudian dilarung ke laut.
Dalang , yang kemudian menggantikan kisah wayang kulit mengenai asal mula dijadikannya bocah
sukerta sebagai mangsa Batara Kala ini, bukan sembarang dalang dan harus menjalani tirakat sebelum
memimpin upacara ini. Upacara/Acara ini digelar rutin setahun sekali tiap tanggal 1 Syuro
(1 Muharam ) – Tahun Hijrah oleh Yayasan Permadani.
Sumber Data : Dinas Pariwisata Kota Semarang