SAPARAN, Yogyakarta's Culture
SAPARAN CELEBRATION
The ritual of Saparan celebrated in Pondok Wonolelo, Widodomartani, Ngemplak, Sleman, included the unique procession of the gunungan (mountain-shaped structure) of apem, which then were shared to all participants attending the ritual. The historical background of the tradition leaped backward to the Javanese year 1511 or 1590 AD, when Ki Ageng Wonolelo brought the apem cakes as the presents after completing his pilgrimage. According to the local historical record, Ki Ageng Wonolelo was a descendant of Prabu (His Holiness) Brawijaya of the Majapahit kingdom.
Unlike the one held in Wonolelo, the ritual of Saparan Bekakak held in Ambarketawang, Gamping, Sleman, had a historical background originated from the Keraton (Palace) of Ngayogyakarta Hadiningrat (the official name of the Yogyakarta palace). The history told that the building of Keraton Yogyakarta had just been worked about, and that Sultan Hamengku Buwono (HB) I had to move into a temporary living at Ambarketawang, together with all of his fellow servants. A servant named Kiai Wirasuta and his wife had chosen rather to stay in a cave at the Gunung Gamping. When Gunung Gamping fell down, the Wirasuta family died with their bodies left unfound, leading the surrounding people to believe that their spirit must have stayed still in Gunung Gamping.
Every year during the Saparan ritual, a couple of “brides”, known as bekakak, were slaughtered at the ruins. The bekakak were made of sticky rice molded into bride-like shape filled in with liquefied brown sugar pretending to be the “blood”. Sultan HB I himself commanded his people to do so in recalling Ki Wirasuta’s loyalty. The history was then mixed with a legend developing afterwards. Gunung Gamping had once been a limestone mining spot (gamping is the Javanese word for limestone), which had caused many cases of mortality. The bekakak slaughtered were expected to be an offering in substitution to the miners’ lives. The ritual lasts until today although the limestone mining had ended long ago.
Source : https://budinddharmawan.wordpress.com
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