Beluluh, The Purification Ceremony of the Sultan

Helloindonesia.id – During the Erau Festival, every day in the front hall of the Kutai Palace (Mulawarwan Museum) a special ritual is held. This ritual called beluluh is held to purify the Sultan of Kutai or the Crown Prince of various elements of evil, both visible and invisible. At the ritual held this afternoon, the Sultan will be seated in a hall and undergo a number of stages.

Ten comes from a combination of the words “reed” which means bamboo stems and “melts” which means destroyed. This name refers to the three-storey bamboo hall used as a throne for the Sultan or the Crown Prince in this ceremony. This hall is placed on a painting of a coral pond, its legs are adorned with coconut leaves, and on each corner a kind of offering is called a inhabitant. Based on local beliefs, the evil elements surrounding the Sultan had to be passed over the bamboo hall.

When the beluluh ritual begins, the Sultan or the Crown Prince is seated for a moment on the bed of the castle. Before long, the Sultan and the Crown Prince will rise and climb the bamboo hall by stepping on a stepping stone heirloom. The Sultan then sits at the highest part of the hall, under the bond of the banyan leaf (rendu) and is shadowed by a yellow cloth called kirab tuhing. After that, the fresh tepong procession is done. In this procession, the god (ritual servant woman) splashes flowers around the Sultan. Next, the Sultan wiped his head with the water and the god would scatter yellow rice towards the Sultan.

After the bats are finished, an interesting procession is carried out when released. Loose ketikai is a type of woven from coconut leaves that will break down if pulled at both ends. In this ritual, the Sultan will hold one end of the woven leaf, while the other end will be drawn by a guest of honor – who is usually a regional official or person designated specifically by relatives of the Sultanate. This procession is the cover of the twisted.

After the ceremony is complete, the reef will be brought to the street in front of the entrance stairs to the Palace. Usually, the public has been busy waiting for the court servant to bring a roll of mat containing the colorful rice. As soon as the roll of the mat arrives in the middle of the crowd, the people will scramble to get colored rice falling from this mat. People believe that colored rice brings blessings to the lives of those who get it.

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