Slametan

The slametan (or selametan, slamatan, and selamatan) is the communal feast from Java, symbolizing the social unity of those participating in it.

[1] Geertz categorizes them into four main types:[2] The ceremony takes its name from the Javanese word slamet, from Arabic: salam, which refers to a peaceful state of equanimity, in which nothing will happen.

This is what the host intends for both himself and his guests, by experiencing the egalitarian structure of the slametan and the petitions of supernatural protection from spirits.

[3] In Geertz's fieldwork in Mojokuto in the 1950s, he found that costs of slametans varied from 3 to 5,000 Indonesian rupiahs, depending on the type and the relative wealth of the host.

Traditionally the guests are called by a messenger of the host (usually a child of his) only five or ten minutes before the slametan is to begin to attend the dinner, and they must drop whatever they are doing to come.

[8] Funerals (layatan) generally take place as soon as possible after the death, and inevitably involve the religious specialist (modin) of the village.

[9] The most important of the calendrical slametans are for the Prophet's birthday (Muludan, on 12 Rabi' al-awwal) and near the end of Ramadan (Maleman).

Other notable holidays infrequently have slametans, and Satu Suro, the New Year's Day (1 Muharram) is celebrated by those who are self-consciously Muslim.

[11] Geertz's final category of slametans, intermittently occurring and dependent on a specific situation, are somewhat less frequent and tend to be smaller affairs.