Jailangkung ([dʒai'laŋkuŋ]), also called jelangkung ([dʒə'laŋkuŋ]),[1][2] is an Indonesian folk ritual of communicating with spirits of the dead.
Jailangkung is also played as a traditional game by both children and adults, drawing criticism from medical and religious authorities.
[6] Alternative methods ask the effigy or another possessed object to point at letters of the alphabet written on pieces of paper or to knock on the table.
[4] Jailangkung gatherings have sometimes resulted in participants developing serious behavioral problems and are regularly denounced by medical and religious (Christian and Muslim) authorities.
Indonesian writer Hersri Setiawan, who was once a political prisoner of the New Order government in the 1970s, recalled that inmates often passed their time by playing jailangkung.
He hypothesized that the presence of a dominant male spirit was more relatable to the Javanese concepts of ruler and subject.