Rama and Sita and the Monkeys

Our first excursion as a group we divided into 3 groups of nine for our longer drives. Three mini vans have mythic names — Ganesha (clearing our way of obstacles), Garuda (messenger), Wishnu (sustainer of the dharma). Within those we work in teams, our roles shifting as we travel. These are the roles : Dreamcatchers, Offerings to the gods at the beginning of each trip, Mystical encounters gatherers, Healers, Artists. These provide a form for us to create a dynamic community within our group, Banjars they are called.  In this land of cultivation, we will cultivate our verbs throughout our time here. 

Last night we entered the magic of this high civilization nestled in a rural land by driving an hour to Batu Bulan for a truly entrancing performance of the Monkey Chant providing the “music” for a performance of scenes from the Ramayana. An opera of sorts, with other-worldly sounds and movement yet speaking to us about what it means to be human with wisdom and power. All of the stories here like this one — Sita abducted by the demon Ravanna, Rama with the help of the white monkey general Hanuman and his cohorts, rescuing her — all such conflict with strange to our eyes and ears drama is offered with remarkable skill by performers who labor in daily jobs and turn to this their chosen art by night, to bring balance to the forces of light and dark, good and evil. Bad guys are never destroyed here, just brought into line, so that balance is restored.

Last nights performance concluded with two girls in a lovely trance dance, and a man taking on the spirit of the horse (right up my alley) to fire  walk, a practice developed centuries ago for warriors to join with their horses for the purposes of warfare.​

After some research on how to load videos with this app, several clips of the evening’s experience will be posted next, hopefully. 

​​​