[A. G. Maisey]

The year of the cardboard keris would have been somewhere in the early 1990's, place was outside Karangpandan Jawa Tengah.

The community I live in when I'm in Jawa is a semi-rural perumnas outside Palur. Still plenty of traditional weddings there, that keep everybody within earshot awake for a week. But as with trad weddings in the western world, modern entertainment has to a large extent replaced the entertainment that amused our grandparents. We don't see Viennese waltz at modern western weddings too often these days, and we don't see a lot of wayang at Jawa weddings.

Any culture must change if it is to stay alive.

Its true that not a lot of people in Jawa own keris any longer, its also true that superficial appearances have changed. You don't see nearly as many people in traditional dress any longer --- men hardly ever except for formal occasions, and women usually only older generation on a day to day basis. But the people still hold the same values as their parents and grandparents, and still behave in the same way. Only the superficialities have changed.

In respect of the pusaka concept. It is a simple fact of life that not all people in any community will subscribe to tradition.

Another fact of life is that not everybody can afford to subscribe to tradition.

When we come to the pusaka concept, we are at the most traditional level really only talking about the elites in society. It is something that is not relevant to people at the lower end of the social scale.

That some of the people to whom the concept can apply should wish to continue the tradition is to me, evidence that traditional culture in Jawa is not dead, only the outward appearances have changed.

Weddings can cost one hell of a lot of money. I know of weddings involving my own relatives that went on for a week and involved over 6000 guests. For one of these weddings they hired a major hotel in Surabaya --- I think it was Surabaya Hilton --- to accommodate the guests. And that was only one of the weddings. Then they had another one in Sydney for all the people in Oz who were unable to attend in Surabaya. This girl's sister was not to outdone. For her they booked all available accommodation in Selecta.

At the other end of the scale there was the son of my housekeeper:- registry office, two days in Tawamanggu, and back to work on Monday.

People act in accordance with their means. If a lot of people prefer to own a mobile phone rather than a keris, its because a mobile phone is more relevant in today's society. But this does not change the fact that they are still Javanese, and still behave like Javanese.