Javanese Wedding Ceremony

Indonesia consist of 33 provinces and every region has different culture, one of the most unique culture is the wedding ceremony in every region, as it is in Javanese culture. Traditionally, in Javanese culture, before the wedding day a bride has to stay apart from the bridegroom for 40 days. What a long period of time! It is called ‘pingitan’. What are they supposed to do? The girl, particulary, has to keep her body and face clean by using a kind of traditional herbal powder called ‘lulur’ so that on the wedding day her skin will look bright and soft.
On the last day of her ‘pingitan’, there is a ceremony called ‘siraman’, in which seven elderly relatives will bath the bride. On this occasion, the bride is bathed in water with certain kinds of flowers; that is, ‘the kembang setaman’. Then, she dressed up by a ‘dukun rias’, a beautician. A part of the ‘siraman’ the water is sent to the bridegroom for his bath. In the evening, the bride’s family hold the so-called ‘malam widodaren’ (the fairy’s night) as farewell party for her. It is a symbol before she leaves home and begins her new life. Many of her friends and relatives will come to the party.
On the wedding day, the bridegroom has to promise in the ‘ijab kabul’ ceremony. Basically the promises say that he will be faithfull, gentle and responsible to his wife and his family. As in many other cultures, the bridegroom also has to give his wedding-gifts or ‘mas kawin’ to the bride. The value of the gifts differ from one to another. The richer the bridegroom, the more expensive the ‘mas kawin’ usually is. Faithful moslems, it is not seldom that they present the Qur’an as the wedding-gift.
The next day, the bride and bridegroom meet each other in the ‘temon’ ceremony. This time they are accompanied by their parents and relatives. In the ceremony, the bride and bridegroom throw some ‘sirih’ leaves over each other. After this, the bride and bridegroom will crush an egg together. This symbolizes that they will always meet and solve the problems together. As a sign of faithfulness, the bride should kneel down. She washes the bridegroom’s right foot with ‘kembang setaman’ water and cleans it with a small towel. Then, they sit in the bridal couch called ‘pagi-pagi’. This time, they listen to advice or ‘ular-ular’ given by an elderly man. This part of ceremony is very formal. After that, they go to a less formal one.