Slametan: Javanese Ritual Meals (Special Topic 4)

In this special topic from the subject Symbols and Society, we'll work on the concept of multivocality in relation to a ritual meal known as the "slametan". But first, a word of warning; this topic requires managing a lot of detail.

Women preparing sweets for a slametan at my fieldsite in Banyuwangi, Java.

What is a slametan?
The word slametan refers to a kind of ritual meal frequently held in Java. As I have written:

Ritual meals are...an important aspect of orthodox [i.e. traditional Islamic] religion. Geertz called them “slametan”, and different words might also be used in different circumstances. The host invites neighbours, family, friends for a child’s birthday, to ensure the successful sale of land, or farewell a nephew visiting from the city. The guest’s wives help the host’s wife prepare a small plate of rice with some meat on the side at the host’s house. Usually, the husbands gather in the front room (ruang tamu) of the host’s house, after evening prayers, and lead by someone knowledgeable, recite passages from Koran. Then they gulp down the rice dish, share a joke, smoke a cigarette, then leave with a takeaway pack of the food. Leftovers are seized by any wives and kids who happen to be around (Herriman 2014)

The red dot marks the location of Pare, Java, Geertz's fieldwork location, where, in the 1950s, he analysed slametan.

What does a slametan look like?

 For an overview, you could look at my 1 page explanation of ritual meals in Banyuwangi, Java, my first fieldwork location .

Slametan in Java (my first fieldwork location 2001-2002)

You can see the similarities between ritual meals in Java (my first fieldwork location) and  ritual meals among the Cocos Malays (my second fieldwork location). I have also blogged about specific ritual meals among the Cocos Malays, including a Feast for the Spirits of the Dead and  ritual meals at the end of Ramadan, the Fasting Month.

Men filling bags with takeaways at the end of a ritual meal on the Cocos (Keeling) Islands

The Cocos (Keeling) Islands, where I have done fieldwork 2012-, are indicated at the bottom left of this map.

Slametan as multivocal

Geertz

This apparently simple ritual meal has sparked a lot of academic controversy; at least in relation to Java. To start with, could read the first chapter of Geertz's classic Religion of Java. You might also like to look at my summary of this. What anthropologists of symbols take away from Geertz on slametan is that that 3 different groups come together at a slametan and the 3 groups get three different kinds of meaning out of the ritual. We anthropologists of symbols could thus say the symbols are multivocal, just like the Virgin of Guadalupe. To understand the three groups' perspective, we need to look at the larger topic of Islam in Java.

Islam in Java = Syncretic Islam

As in other parts of the world, the Islam in Java has unique features—it has been indigenized or domesticated such that it reflects both local as well as foreign influences. It is thus what anthropologists call "syncretic". Clifford Geertz’s (1960) seminal work on Islam in Java assessed these influences on the religion of the Javanese people, who primarily inhabit central and eastern Java. 

Islam in Java: 3 variants

On the basis of fieldwork in Pare, the author characterized Javanese religion as being composed of 3 ‘variants’, which correspond with the tripartite structure of Javanese society:

1.  abangan, the peasantry, whose ‘socio-structural nucleus’ was the village. The abangan or folk religion is “a balanced integration of animistic, Hinduistic, and Islamic elements”;
2. santri, small traders, whose ‘nucleus’ was the market (in the sense of “the whole network of domestic trade relationships on the island”). The santri religious tradition is “a purer Islam, less contaminated with either animism or mysticism” (1960:5). I will also refer to this religious culture as “orthodox Islam”; and,
3.  priyayi, the gentry, formerly the aristocracy, whom the Dutch had transformed “into an appointive, salaried civil service” and whose “socio-structural nucleus” was the bureaucracy (1960:6). The priyayi religion is Hindu, incorporating “etiquette, art, and mystical practice” (1960:238).

Hence, Javanese religion was a syncretic Islam with the abangan ‘variant’ emphasizing animistic elements; the santri, Islamic; and the priyayi, Hindu elements within this syncretism. They call came together at the slametan ritual, which they all interpreted differently. Geertz insisted that these three variants were entirely separate in their mental outlook. 

Different interpretations of the slametan

What did the slametan mean to the 3 variants/groups in Java. 

1. The slametan is central to abangan life. A commonly held ritual meal, the slametan expresses abangan belief in the importance of harmonious relations with other humans, spirits, ancestors and gods. 
2. For santri, the emphasis in slametan is to worship Allah, the One, so these overtly pious Muslims they politely overlook reference to supernatural beings which are condemned by dogma.  
3. Where the abangan might be animist, the santri monotheist, the priyayi engages in slametan from a mystical perspective. The priyayi sees deeper significance to the symbols of the slametan which connect the self with God and the universe. 

In these ways, the slametan could be seen as multivocal--providing different symbolic meaning to different groups

Wider application of Geertz's model?

 Geertz’s typology has been the most influential in the study of Javanese religion. It has even been applied more widely to describe various political historical phenomena through out Java (Hefner 1987b:534-5), even though Javanese are just one (admittedly the largest) ethno-linguistic group in Java. (Other ethno-linguistic groups of Java include Madurese, Sundanese, Osing). Even though some authors have felt the model as wider significance than even Geertz argued for, other scholars have questioned the model. Indeed, as a model for religion in Java, it has been subject to revisions, eight of which are discussed in the following paragraphs.

 8 revisions to Geertz

1. Religion and class do not always align.

Hefner (1985:3-4 nn.) records that “a number of scholars” have pointed out “that variation in religious orthodoxy cuts across class lines”.  One can find peasants or aristocrats whose Islamic beliefs and practices are as orthodox as santri.

 2. Using local ideas and terms does not provide accurate analysis

Closely related is the second revision, namely that Geertz employs the terms that his research participants to describe society. As such it could be called an ‘indigenous sociology’ or an ‘emic’ or as Geertz would prefer, an ‘experience-near’ account. However the use of the term “priyayi” to denote a religious culture by Javanese people has been questioned on the basis that it usually only denotes a class—the aristocracy.

3. Regional variation much more important 'socio-structural nucleus'

 Regional variation within Java is more important than socioeconomic class in explaining religious culture. For example, areas along the north coast (pasisir) have tended to be more orthodox, upland mountain areas have tended to cling to Hindu-Buddhist or animist beliefs (Hefner 1985; Koentjaraningrat 1985:318)

4. Geertz's fieldwork location was particularly divided

A fourth revision relates to the particularity of Geertz’s fieldwork location setting. The tense relationship between orthodox Islam and Javanist Islam that Geertz describes can be traced to historical factors such as a Communist Party revolt (Madiun) and intense party-politicking in rural areas which focused on, and heightened, differences in religious culture (known as aliran politics) (Hefner 1987b). 

5. There are really only two variants.

A fifth revision has been to reject the tripartite structure. Koentjaraningrat (1985:316-7), for example, recognizes only two variants of Javanese Islam:

Variant A: “Islam of the religious people” (Agami Islam Santri) incorporates animistic and Hindu-Buddhist elements but “is much closer to the formal dogma learnings of Islam.”

Variant B: “Javanese religion” (Agami Jawi) is an “extensive complex of mystically inclined Hindu-Buddhistic beliefs and concepts, syncretistically integrated in an Islamic frame of reference” (Koentjaraningrat 1985:317).

 In this way, Koentjaraningrat (1985:316-7, 336) apparently subsumes the beliefs of Geertz’s priyayi and abangan religious variants into the single term “Javanese religion”.

6. Religious difference can be plotted along a continuum.

The sixth revision holds that the distinction between Javanist Islam and santri Islam is actually a continuum.  Geertz explicitly excluded this possibility of continuum, treating the different variants as discrete entities:

even amongst the most kolot [old-fashioned] of santri there has been a crucial shift when a man… becomes a santri. Nor can one simply say that the kolot-to-moderen scale measures the degree to which the principles have taken hold in the essentially abangan mentality of the Javanese (Geertz 1960:160).

Notwithstanding the idea that there is a continuum between santri Islam and Javanist Islam can be found in studies of Islam in Java, such as Woodward (1989:7) and Beatty (1999).

7. Sufism more important

A seventh revision pertains to the historical roots of Javanist Islam: namely, that it has been more influenced by mystical Islam or Sufism, than by pre-Islamic elements, such as Hindu-Buddhism (Woodward 1989:3, 242).  This could be attributed to the likelihood “that many of the merchants and travelers who introduced Islam to Southeast Asia were Sufis” (Barton 2002:64). Woodward (1989:6) argues that the distinction between Javanist Islam and santri Islam does not correlate with a distinction between “orthodox and syncretist Islam”, but rather a distinction between legalistic and mystical interpretations of Islam.

Perhaps the only safe conclusion one could make on the basis of these revisions is that there are two general trends in Islam in Java:

1.  Javanist Islam emphasizes indigenous, Hindu-Buddhist, and/or Sufi elements, while
2.  orthodox, normative, or santri Islam emphasizes ‘purifying’ Islam of these elements

8. The important distinction is between Civil and regimist Islam.

Finally, a new typology of Islam in Indonesia has been developed by Hefner (2000). Instead of defining his types in terms of differences of class or doctrine and practice, Hefner characterizes Indonesian Islam in terms of two emergent and rival traditions regarding the political role of Islam. “Civil Islam” is “pluralist” (2000:6) and affirms “democracy, voluntarism, and a balance of countervailing powers in a state and society” (2000:12-3). This is contrasted with a regimist Islam, which strives for an Islamic state without checks and balances (Hefner 2000:20).

 Accepting revision 5 for the sake of the argument leaves us with two major kinds of Islam in Java: Javanist Islam and santri Islam. This is the starting point for Beatty’s work Varieties of Javanese Religion.

The red dot indicates Banyuwangi, Java where Beatty did fieldwork in the 1990s, and I also did fieldwork 2001-2002.

Beatty’s mystical, practical Islam & pious Muslims

Beatty

This major contribution to the study of religion in Java is based fieldwork on research a village in mountain Banyuwangi given the pseudonym “Bayu”, as well as apparently shorter research periods in a traditional orthodox Islamic village and a Hindu community. Beatty is critical of accounts that explain religion from the perspective of ‘experts’ (urban Islamic preacher/scholars, sect leaders and so on) and instead searches to find the common- or middle- ground. For Beatty (1999:115-117) this religious common ground is what he calls “practical Islam”. Practical Islam is in the middle of a continuum with two ends:

1.  Proponents of a purer version of Islam, whom Beatty labels “santri.” 
2. Javanese mysticism is at the other side of the continuum. This  emphasizes worldly symbols of divinity (such as the human body, forests, foods) (Beatty 1999:158-186). 

Red and White porridge

Like Geertz, Beatty identified the multivocality of the slametan: people interpret the symbolic meaning of different rituals in their own way, and are not aggrieved by different interpretations (1999:49-50). Again from the two ends:

1. For a pious Muslim, the red and white porridge of a ritual simply represent Adam and Eve.
2.  For the mystic, Adam and Eve are “mere intermediaries”. 

The majority of people, i.e. those adopting, practical Islam,  have an opinion “falling somewhere in between…the two extremes (1999:38).

Aside from multivocality, another method by which local people deal with their religious differences is that the differences are brushed over such that questions of religion are not “spoken about, let alone debated” (1999:125-126).

My experience of Banyuwangi

A few years after Beatty, I also did fieldwork in Banyuwangi 2001-2002. I found evidence of the kind of religious diversity within Islam Beatty describes. It was apparent, of course, in Beatty's own fieldwork village and several surrounding villages. By contrast, elsewhere, in Banyuwangi, I was struck by the conformity of religious practice according to a pious, or santri Islam. Indeed, Beatty's fieldwork location was so unique that camera crews visited to film rituals there, it was set up as a tourist location, and the government has made a point of trying to preserve the special rituals. I decided to write a paper about that conformity of religious practice elsewhere in Banyuwangi. If you're interested, you can find it here.

Theoretical approaches to the symbolism of slametan

OK let's leave the debates over variants aside and rather focus on how the different theories might apply to the symbols in a slametan.

What would it look like if we applied Ortner's theory to something slametan and combined it with Geertz's theory?

Using Ortner, we could say that the slametan as an elaborating symbol of the ‘key scenario’ type. It's an elaborating symbol puts everything into context, helps you sort out ideas, explains how everything fits together, orders life. It's a key senario because it shows you how to live out life.

On top of this, we can also apply Geertz's ideas of models for and models. We could say that these elaborating symbols are models for how to behave. Maybe you act out gender roles, slamet is restored. It shows people how to act in the world: calm, resigned and peaceful. Also, as it is an unassuming and apparently insignificant ritual is not sacred like for example like prayers before fasting month.

Aside from the elaborating symbols, there are also models of. In the ritual how the world is and how to behave all hangs together For exathe colours of the porridge etc seem to be a model of Adam Eve etc.

As Geertz notes in rituals models of and for come together similarly the selametan is as much a model of society. We enact relationships with ancestors and with each other but is this in a symbolic way? Geertz says it symbolizes "the mystic and social unity of those participating in it" but is it a symbol or actually it? That is, it doesn't just make sense of the world, it actually creates order in the world. Anyway, it organizes their life: people are arranged equally, food is distributed, spirits are appeased and neutrality is achieved.

Final Words

There are no final words on the debate! Geertz started a fascinating conversation by analyzing a kind of ritual meal as having different meanings to different groups. The different groups could come together at the one ritual he observed. Ever since then different scholars have grappled with this idea. Maybe the debate has now run out of steam. But I hope not.

As for the different theories of symbols; I have applied Ortner and Geertz's own theory to the slametan. What other theories do you think illuminate aspects of the slametan?