Tolerance in ‘Wayang Wahyu’ Performance

KOMPAS/HARIS FIRDAUS

The Wayang Wahyu show about the birth of Jesus Christ was staged at the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Studio, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, Wednesday (15/12/2021) afternoon. Wayang Wahyu is a leather puppet performance whose play or story comes from the Bible. In that stage, there was a feeling of tolerance and brotherhood because some of the attendees and the artists involved were Muslims.

“Yesus sayangku/ Kau begitu lucu/Mungil tubuhmu/ Inilah ibumu...” (My dear Jesus/ You are so cute/ Tiny body/ This is your mother...)

This song was part of a wayang (shadow puppet) show performed at the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Center, Bantul regency, Yogyakarta, on Wednesday afternoon (15/12/2021.

Accompanied by the sound of gamelan (traditional orchestra), a number of  women and men sang to describe the joy of Mary who had just given birth to Jesus. The atmosphere of joy was everywhere because the savior had been born into the world.

After the scene of the birth of Jesus, the story continued with the descent of the angel Gabriel to Earth. The angel was said to have spoken to a number of shepherds to convey the good news about the birth of Jesus.

"Do not be afraid, for I bring the good news to you about the great joy for all the peoples," said the angel.

Like other wayang kulit (leather shadow puppet) performances, all the scenes in the show were conducted by a dalang ( puppet master) who played the wayang characters.

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However, in contrast to wayang kulit purwa performances, which usually tell the story of the Mahabharata and Ramayana, the puppet show told the story of the birth of Jesus.

This performance is not called wayang purwa, but wayang wahyu.

"This time, we perform the wayang wahyu with a story about the birth of Jesus Christ," the founder of the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Center, Indra Suroinggeno, 35, said at the arts center, located in Kanutan hamlet, Sumbermulyo village, Bambangli Puro district, Bantul.

KOMPAS/HARIS FIRDAUS

The Wayang Wahyu show about the birth of Jesus Christ was staged at the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Studio, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, Wednesday (15/12/2021) afternoon.

Wayang wahyu is a leather puppet performance that conveys the story from the Bible. As the name suggests, the wayang wahyu performance is not only an artistic performance but also a means to convey the word of God.

Generally, wayang wahyu is staged before Christmas. In addition to performing at churches, Indra is also often invited to perform in public spaces.

Although this wayang performance is closely related to Christmas, the nuances of tolerance and brotherhood can also be seen with the presence of interfaith students. In fact, several members of the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Center who play the gamelan on stage are Muslim.

"This wayang wahyu performance tells the story of the universal love for all humans," said Indra.

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One of the members of the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Center, Sugeng Nugroho, 17, acknowledged that he did not mind being involved in the wayang wahyu performance even though he is Muslim.

For Sugeng, being involved in the wayang wahyu performance will not reduce his faith but it can instead foster tolerance.

“For me, there is nothing wrong about getting involved in the wayang wahyu performance. We also should not  discriminate against people because of their religions,” said Su gang, who plays the drums in wayang wahyu performances.

The role of the monk

Based on a number of references, wayang wahyu was initiated by a Catholic monk named Brother Timotheus L Wignjosoebroto FIC in 1960.

The inaugural wayang wahyu performance was held in Surakarta, Central Java, on 2 Feb. 1960. To this day, wayang wahyu is often performed in a number of areas in Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Indra said he had been performing wayang wahyu since 2013. Indra first saw a collection of wayang wahyu puppets kept at the Sonobudoyo Museum in Yogyakarta.

KOMPAS/HARIS FIRDAUS

The founder of the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Center, Indra Suroinggeno, gave a statement to the media after the Wayang Wahyu performance at the Bhuana Alit Cultural Arts Studio, Bantul Regency, Yogyakarta Special Region, Wednesday (15/12/2021) afternoon.

After that, Indra began to make his own the leather puppets for wayang wahyu performances. The shape of wayang wahyu is similar to ordinary leather shadow puppets but depicts characters from the Bible.

“Wayang wahyu puppets can be made from buffalo skin, cow skin, goat skin and even paper. Currently, we have a collection of about 80 wayang wahyu puppets,” said Indra, who is also the founder of the Wayang Beber Sekartaji Museum.

In the wayang wahyu performance that afternoon, Indra made a number of modifications so that the course of the show did not follow the standards of a regular wayang performance. One of the most striking modifications was the use of Indonesian in the 30-minute show.

Conservation

To preserve wayang wahyu, Indra involved two children, aged 10 and 7, to perform as puppeteers.

To make it easier for the two children, Indra made written texts containing stories and dialogues so that they only had to read the text while performing. Throughout the show, Indra also sat behind the two children to provide guidance and also sometimes play the puppets.

The tradition to hold wayang wahyu performances was also revived by the arts and culture teacher of SMP BOPKRI 3 junior high school in Yogyakarta, Hendro Hatmoko, 31. In December 2020, Hendro performed wayang wahyu as part of a Christmas celebration at his school.

The wayang wahyu performance was titled “The Birth of the Savior", which tells the story of the birth of Jesus.

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According to Hendro, the initiative to hold wayang wahyu performance was made when the school planned to  hold an arts performance in celebration of Christmas. Hendro then suggested a leather puppet show because knew how to stage wayang performances that he learned at the wayang school in the Yogyakarta Palace.

Starting from the performance at the school, Hendro began to be serious about preserving this arts by making his own puppets.

"Finally, I decided to make my own wayang with cardboard materials," he said.

This article was translated by Hendarsyah Tarmizi.