Dukun keris & other keris esoterica

[dbhmgb]

Originally Posted by Rick

Disco Silat ?

Good one!

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by dbhmgb

Good one!

A bit Miami Vice-esque, yeah. Same era. Here´s another for the more traditional minds amongst us Anyway, you got any Dukun or other esoterica to share?

[David]

Originally Posted by Jussi M.

A bit Miami Vice-esque, yeah. Same era. Here´s another for the more traditional minds amongst us Anyway, you got any Dukun or other esoterica to share?

I don't see anything particularly "dukun" oriented in this image Jussi. Looks more martial art/silat related to me. What do you find esoteric about this image?

[David]

Here are a couple of more likely images of dukuns. They are traditional healers, shaman of a sort. Many dukuns are no doubt trained in the martial art of silat, but their use of the keris does not tend to be a martial one as depicted in your photograph above. Their craft involves trance and meditation as well as herbalism and spirit communication and exorcisms. They might bless your farm and your crops or practice divinations. A few have been know to practice the darker arts of malicious magic. But we are not likely to see any fine examples of keris in photographs of them at work. Here are a couple of shots, one older from the 1920s that shows no keris and a more recent shot, probably staged specifically for the photo.

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by David

I don't see anything particularly "dukun" oriented in this image Jussi. Looks more martial art/silat related to me. What do you find esoteric about this image?

Hello David. I guess me not being a native speaker of English plays a part herein. Sorry for that. No, I see nothing "Dukun" with the keris dress I showed but I do find it a bit unusual or out of the norm so to speak.

I just saw the Merriam Webster explanation for the word "esoteric" and it appears I made a poor choice of wording with the "esoteric". Should had been "odd". That being said lets play with both odd and esoteric. My initial idea had pretty much anything out of the ordinary in mind.

Sorry for the confusion

[David]

Well yes, that first series of photos is indeed "odd"...

[Jussi M.]

Originally Posted by David

Well yes, that first series of photos is indeed "odd"...

I gather so. They are still pictures from an American Martial Art documentary made in 1982. The man pictured was an official representative of an Indonesian Pentjak Silat organization being interviewed. He was asked to show something for the camera. I gather that the hardware used in the filming - witnessed by these pictures - was brought to the scene by the organizers of the filming. Maybe. Anyway lets move forward. Please

Thanks,

J.

[Caedo]

I recognize those pictures. They are of Pendekar Eddie Jafri from his interview with Greg Alland. I wondered about all of the stuff hanging from his keris when I watched the video. I've never seen anything like it.