To mark the conclusion of the thrice-yearly grebeg celebrations on the major Muslim holy days, the palace sponsors a performance of wayang kulit (shadow puppet theatre). These performances, called bedhol songsong (bedhol = to uproot, songsong = ceremonial umbrella/sunshade that served as an emblem of its owner’s social position), conjure a time when a sultan’s administrative functionaries from the outer regions of the kingdom would camp in the palace’s courtyards during grebeg. The songsong of these functionaries would be set up in front of their tents, thus displaying to all the status/rank of each umbrella’s owner. Following a grebeg, the functionaries would break camp (i.e., they would bedhol songsong, or uproot their ceremonial umbrellas) to return to their estates. For many decades now, this practice of palace functionaries camping out during the grebeg in the palace courtyards has not been practiced, but the presentation of an all-night wayang kulit performance to serve as a ritual marking of closure of the grebeg has continued. During my visit to Yogyakarta in 2016, the palace sponsored a bedhol songsong wayang kulit performance the night following the Grebeg Mulud ceremony on 12 Mulud.
Wayang kulit as an artistic practice is believed to be a very old and powerful—arguably the oldest and most powerful–form of Javanese expression, dating back to Hindhu-Javanese times, well before the introduction of Islam to Java. Although in recent decades some performances of wayang kulit have come to be presented as part of commercial entertainment enterprises, the primary purpose of wayang performance has always been ceremonial. Kings, communities, families, or, in recent times, businesses and government offices, would and still do commission performances on socially or spiritually significant occasions. Such performances were and are enacted primarily for protective reasons, or to effect some sort of state of well-being on the sponsoring party. While a presentation of wayang kulit can be enjoyed as entertainment, seldom do members of an audience at an event engage with the performance as such from beginning to end. The efficacy of a performance is not measured in how much the audience enjoys it or how much revenue is generated (usually none) for its sponsor, but in the perceived benefit the very act of realizing the performance might bring about for the sponsoring individual or institution.
Javanese royal institutions such as the Kraton Yogyakarta have throughout their existence supported a group of wayang kulit puppeteers (dhalang) who are called upon to realize performances of wayang in palace life. In Yogyakarta, they serve as abdi dalem and are affiliated with the palace’s performing arts office, Kridhamardawa. As abdi dalem they hold a palace rank and are given a palace name that includes the component “cerma” (“leather, hide” in Kawi, or Old Javanese, referencing the material from which wayang kulit puppets are made). Palace dhalang are also responsible for maintaining the several royal sets (called “kothak,” “chests”) of wayang kulit, each set numbering in the hundreds of puppets; a few of the very oldest and finest of these are considered pusaka (spiritually-charged heirlooms). Since 1925 CE, abdi dalem dhalang have been trained at Habirandha, a private, palace-sponsored foundation located within the palace walls. Habirandha-trained puppeteers are the only dhalang allowed to perform for palace-sponsored events, but they also perform outside of the palace. When they do perform in the palace, they are accompanied by abdi dalem musicians performing on a kagungan dalem gamelan.
The Bedhol Songsong wayang kulit of which I witnessed a part in December 2016 was presented in Pagelaran with the dhalang Mas Bekel Cerma Sugondo performing the story (lakon) Semar Ratu (“Semar becomes King”) accompanied by the palace gamelans K.K. Medharsih (laras sléndro) and K.K. Mikatsih (laras pélog) performed on by Kridhamardawa abdi dalem musicians.
