Apr. 23, 1978 - Indonesia

Spent a lazy day in the sun, reading and indulged in another coconut oil massage.  In the evening we went to a local fire dance ceremony.  It was like a Christmas play at a church – everyone got to participate and then put it on in front of family, friends and guests.  The guests (us) paid a small entry fee and got chairs but everyone else just stood behind to watch.  There was a good community – family feeling.  There was an improvised stage in a courtyard with painted backdrops and light was provided by two naked light bulbs swarming with insects.  To change the lighting someone just reached up through the insects and unscrewed the bulb.

First came a group of young boys – maybe eight to late teens who sat in the corner near us.  They were dressed in identical skirts and head wraps.  They sang a monkey song with great relish – all but one sang rapidly “chuck-a chuck-a chuck-a” and he sang the basic rhythm – a monotone two-beat moan.  There were certain subtleties that I probably missed but everyone enjoyed it, especially the boys.  Sometimes the tempo would get faster and they would practically fly off where they were sitting cross-legged in the dirt.

After that a similar group of unmarried girls came in and sat in a group separate from but near to the boys.  They sang alternate songs with the boys to accompany two elaborately dressed and coifed young girls as they danced in a seeming trance.  This went on for about 20 minutes with the little girls falling over a few times and being righted by their mothers.  Then the priest brought them out of the trance with holy water and incense.

The second part of the program was a fire dance.  About 5 older men participated in this.  A coconut husk bonfire was lit in the center and the lights unscrewed.  Then the men, already deep in a trance, rushed through the flames and scattered the embers with their feet.  It was quite impressive with sparks flying everywhere, including the laps of those in the front rows.  They shuffled around in the embers and associates kept sweeping the embers back up in a pile only to be scattered again.  The trances became deeper and deeper and it was hard to tell what was happening.  The men had to be held up and restrained by assistants and then the priest took them out of their trance by various actions and potions.  A few threw up and wretched and others shook and trembled – all this accompanied in the dark by a chuck-a chuck- chuck-a sound of 30 or so voices.  Weird, to say the least.  At one point they sacrificed a chick by wringing it’s neck and drank it’s blood straight from the neck.  We were sitting quite close so not many people could see what was going on.  I don’t remember exactly how it ended but people started leaving.  I take back the part about it being like a play at church.