KHAUL

KHAUL 

Tradition among the Royal Family of Yogyakarta

As Auguste Comte, a well-known Philosopher from France has stated in his theory about the "Law of Three Stages". According to the theory, human life has evolved from the Theological stage to the Positivist stage. That being said, nowadays humans are more likely in the Positivist stage which science takes a big part to explain anything. Traditions that involve a traditional belief attend to lose their existence since humans nowadays generally use scientific approaches to explain things

Fortunately, I was lucky enough to attend Khaul of Hamengkubuwono VII. Khaul in Arabic means something that has already passed away, meanwhile, in the Javanese, we called it Khol. 

Khaul is a religious ritual to commemorate the death of a person, especially among the Royal Family. This tradition is special because not only it's hard to find but also can be held by the descendant alone. Khaul is held once every thirty-five days or in a Javanese calendar every Jum'at Kliwon, the reason merely because Hamengkubuwono VII died on Jum'at Kliwon. This event is conducted solely to pray for the ancestor who is already passed away.

This is where the Khaul was held. they seemed happy as they are chatting around before the event begins.

If you are wondering where Khaul is held, it is held at the place called Dalem Poespo. When I asked one of the descendants about the criteria for the place, he replied

"I chose Dalem Poespo because it's big and it holds approximately 40 people inside. And as in addition it also gives us the Javanese nuance because we want to practice traditional belief, it would be much better if we do it here"

Seven Kanca Kaji gather around and they are wearing traditional clothing with the turban on their heads.

Khaul consists of prayer then followed by dinner. Prayer runs for about 30 minutes and is led by seven Kanca Kaji, who are servants of the Kraton (Palace). In the prayer, they do it in a Muslim way but interestingly acculturated with the Javanese traditional belief. But isn't necessary we have to do it that way, you can do it on your own since I noticed some of them aren't Muslim. Kanca Kaji only lead us here, not forcing us to use the same practice as they do.

In the prayer, they also serve some offerings like traditional dishes. 

For our dinner, we all got the same type of food they serve as offerings. Shredded chicken cooked with the coconut milk and so did rice, plus Krechek, kerupuk, peanuts, and cucumber on the side make the food flavourful. You might not be familiar with Krechek, right? well, Krechek is a traditional Javanese cattle skin spicy stew dish from Yogyakarta. Traditionally it is made from the soft inner skin of cattle (cow or water buffalo). Also, kerupuk is a deep-fried cracker made from starch and other ingredients that serve as a flavoring. Kerupuk is a popular snack in parts of Southeast Asia but is most closely associated with Indonesia. 

After dinner, you can do anything, whether you wanna chat around or go home. But for me, I just want to explore more, and apparently, I saw flowers wrap in banana leaves on the offerings. I ask one of the guys whether I could take it or not, and they let me bring it home. He told me if I bring it home, it will give me some luck but who knows?

Wish me luck guys :)

This was indeed a marvelous experience for me to attend Khaul. I learned a lot today, especially about one of the Javanese traditional practices. I'm glad that this practice still exists until this day even though we are living in a hustling bustling modern era, but it doesn't really mean that we will let traditional practice like this lose their existence. I hope for readers by reading this glimpse of narrative, you might gain some knowledge about one of the Javanese cultures.

Thank you for reading this, see you in my next story

Love, Mann.