Grebeg

Grebeg is held by the Yogyakarta and Surakarta courts three times a year: Grebeg Syawal at Idul Fitri, Grebeg Besar at Idul Adha, and Grebeg Mulud at Maulud. What is carried is the gunungan, conical stacks of crops, glutinous rice and cakes, borne from the court to the Great Mosque escorted by the court's soldiers and prayed over before being distributed.

The distribution proceeds by scramble. Those present take portions of the gunungan, carry them home, and plant some in their fields. The scramble is not disorder but the intended form of distribution: the gunungan is surrendered to those present, and the surrender is complete when nothing is left.

The escort is provided by the court's bregada — Wirabraja, Dhaeng, Patangpuluh and others — each with its own uniform, banner and music. These units descend from the court's military organisation, which ceased to function as such in the nineteenth century and survived as courtier positions filled by ordinary people from particular kampung.

Their names hold a history worth examining: Dhaeng points to Makassar, and Bugis to the Bugis — a residue of the period when mercenary troops from Sulawesi served in Java. A ceremony that today reads as court display therefore carries a record of movement between islands three centuries ago, and this encyclopedia records it here because such information has nowhere else to go.