1. The History

Ramadhan is a special month for the Moslems. In this month, God promises a large amount of reward and unlimited forgiveness for His people. Therefore, some of the Moslems do special preparations to welcome this holy month, like the people in Jada Bahri and Kimak Village, Merawang Sub-district, Bangka District, Bangka Belitung Province who perform the Mandi Belimau ceremony.

For people in this area, Ramadhan is the month when they had to repent and hope the safety and blessing. One of the traditions that they do is cleaning themselves before entering the holy month of Ramadhan by running the tradition of Mandi Belimau in Limbung Riverbank. They believe that by holding this ceremony, their fasting will be fluently done and all they want can be reached. Specifically, there are three purposes of this ceremony. First, people search for the wishes. This searching consists of the wish to get themselves close to God (dzikir), the wish to get close to Prophet Muhammad (Sholawat, Sunah), the wish of the angles (Tahmid, Takbir, Tasbih), and the wish of the human (the granted prayer). Second purpose is to increase the deed of Repent Bathing and Repent Sunat Prayer (Favorable Prayer). The last purpose is to increase the good deed of fardhu and sunat, and to increase the silatuhrahim (brotherhood). However, there are some people who join this ceremony because they hope for wealth, cleverness, until partner for life.

The Mandi Belimau tradition is a hereditary ritual of the people in Jada Bahri and Kimak Village that has been existed for about 300 year ago. People say, according to the faith of the people in this village, this tradition was introduced for the first time by Depati Bahrein, a noble man, which was also the descendant of Mataram Kingdom Yogyakarta who escaped with his guard troops to Bangka Island around 1700 A.C. from the pursuit of the Netherlands troops. At that time, Depati Bahrein did the repentance bathing ritual.

In the development, the government of the Bangka Regency makes the Mandi Belimau ritual as a part of traditional tourism package. Then, this ritual develops and no longer becomes just as an exclusive ceremony celebration for the people of Jada Bahri and Kimak Village but also for all the people in Bangka District, from government officials to ordinary people. Thus, in one side, the Mandi Belimau ritual is a sacred ritual and becomes the togetherness photograph framed by the tradition which is eternal. On the other hand, it also becomes a show. If we do not face this condition wisely and prudently, the values contained in this tradition will be reduced into culture ceremony only.

2. The Time and Place of the Ceremony Implementation

The Belimau Bathing ceremony is held once a year, that is in the end of Sya‘ban or a week before Ramadhan. This ceremony is taken in Limbung Riverbank, Limbung, Jada Bahrein Village, Merawang Sub-district, Bangka District.

3. The Ceremony Equipment

As a ritual that contains sacred values and has been done hereditarily, this ceremony needs special equipment and materials. The materials and equipment are the pre-requirement showing the completion of the ceremony. Therefore, if the equipment or the materials are not suitable, the aim of the ceremony will not be reached.

The equipment and materials used in this ceremony are:

a.  The six-color clothes. They are white, green, red, yellow, black, and grey. The white cloth is specially worn by the ceremony leader, while the rest are worn by the assistants.

b. Guci (a porcelain earthenware) or Kendi (earthenware flask with a neck for drinking water). The Guci used is a special guci that is already hundred years old.

This guci is used as a special concoction place which will be used in the Mandi Belimau ceremony.

c. The special concoction. This concoction which is made from water mixture is taken from the village well that has been given with a spell and mixed by:

• 7 limes. This fruit symbolizes the control of the supernatural power, like the control of Akek Pok.
• 7 areca nuts. They symbolizes the soul purity of the hero, such as Depati Bahrein.
• 76 slices of dried Bonglai (plant used for medicine). This Bonglai symbolizes the daredevil attitude, the genie and devil slayer, and the politic experts, such as the attitude and expertise of Akek Jok.
• 7 turmeric. It means diligent people are devil‘s enemies, and lazy people are devil‘s friends as shown by Akek Sak.
• 7 mukot eyes and 7 onions. They symbolizes the obedient attitude as the attitude of Akek Daek.
• The obsolete charcoal. It symbolizes patience, capability to keep secret, and ability to do jihad fisa billillah fervently like Akek Dung.

d. The five-color clothes displayed in the ceremony implementation place. The colors and their meanings are:

• The red cloth means Commander – Isrofil Istana Jantung Daging Usman.
• The yellow cloth  means Industrious man – Mikail Istana Urat Umar.
• The gray cloth means Daredevil – Isrofil Istana Jantung Tulang Ali.
• The black cloth means Patience, Secret Keeper, Jihad United – Jibroil Istana Lidah Darah Abu Bakar.
• The white cloth means purity –titis Nur Muhammad SAW Al Ulama Miswhatul Mursyid.

4. The Implementation of the Ceremony

Beside the using of the special materials and equipment, other things that determine the perfection of this ceremony is the implementation. A day before the ceremony day, the preparations are done to make the ceremony run well, for example embedding the five-color clothes in the ceremony location, Limbung Riverbank.

The implementation of this ceremony are:

• A day before the Mandi Belimau ceremony day, the people hold a pilgrimage to the grave of the local public figures, that is the Grave of Depati Bahrein, located in Lubuk Bunter around 8 km from Kimak Village. This pilgrimage is intended to  feel and then to understand the Depati Bahrein‘s struggle. In this pilgrimage, people are divided into seven troops and each troop is led by a commander. This pilgrimage is an opening way to Mandi Belimau.
• After arriving in the grave of Depati Bahrein, the pilgrims spend some time to pray in front of the grave, usually by reading the Surah of Yasin and praying led by a local religion figure.
• After doing the pilgrimage, some of the ceremony participants go directly to Lubuk Bunter Quay which is about 3 km from the grave.
• From this place, then, the pilgrims across Jada River which is overgrown with mangrove trees to Limbung Village where the traditional ceremony, Mandi Belimau, was held by using a wooden boat.
• The busiest person in this ceremony is the ceremony leader. He has to prepare the special concoction consisted of water which is taken from the village well that has been given a spell and mixed by a concoction of lime, areca nut, bonglai, tumeric, onion, kenanga (a kind of flower), and rose. He also prepares 5 clothes with different colors that symbolize the power of Depati Bahrein guards.
• This sacred concoction is wrapped in a cloth then it is put into a bag which contended of five-color clothes.

• The next day, the ceremony leader goes to the ceremony place by wearing the white clothes, and being accompanied by the guards wearing black, gray, yellow, red, and green clothes. Usually, in the place where the ceremony was held, the participants have gathered.
• After all of the preparations is enough, the Mandi Belimau is begun.
• The participants who wanted to do Mandi Belimau have to say their intention first.

• Then, the ceremony leader who is accompanied by five men wearing green, red, yellow, black, and gray clothes reads a prayer and spells the concoction water inside kendi. After that, the condition water is sprayed to the participants.
• The bathing is begun by making the palm of the right hind wet and the left hand. If there is some important functionaries in this ceremony, they will be bathed first.
• Then it is continued by washing the right foot then the left one.
• After that, washing the fontanel.
• Next, it was continued by washing the whole body.
• After the participants have finished the bathing, the Nampi dance is performed. It is a special dance of Bangka people that symbolizes the women‘s routine work, cleaning the rice.
• After that, it is continued by doing the tradition of Sepintu Sedulang (Nganggung), that is bringing food in mutual co-operation to some place, usually to the Mosque of Limbung Village, to be enjoyed together.
• By the end of Sepintu Sedulang, the ceremony is also finished.

5. The Prayers and the Spirit

The prayer and the spirit used in Belimau Bathing ceremony are:

• The Surah of Yasin. The reading of the Surah of Yasin is done when doing the pilgrimage to the grave of Depati Bahrein.
• The spell to make the sacred concoction (the spell text is still in the data collecting process).
• The prayer to start bathing (the prayer text is still in the data collecting process).

6. The Values

The Mandi Belimau ceremony which is done every year by Bangka people in the Limbung Riverbank is one way of the people to welcome the holy month, Ramadhan. Besides, this ceremony is a photograph on how the local tradition was side by side with Islam that is followed by Bangka people. Therefore, this ceremony does not only contain religious value but also cultural, social, homage values to the ancestors. It contains entertaining value as well.

• The religious value can be seen from the first aim of this ceremony, that is as a self purifying media to welcome Ramadhan. Besides, this value can also be seen from the reading of the Surah of Yasin when they are doing pilgrimage to the grave of Depati Bahrein.
• The cultural value in this tradition can be seen in the using of the concoctions, the performance of Nampi dance, and the reading of the spell. This value can also be seen from the existence of the faith of some visitors that this ceremony can bring the partner of life and the fortune. Because of this, the participants of the Mandi Belimau try to bath with the water which is mixed by the concoction that has been spelled.
• The homage value to the ancestors can be seen in the implementation of the pilgrimage to the grave of Depati Bahrein and the using of the colorful clothes that are associated with Depati Bahrein and his guards. The pilgrimage and the using of the colorful clothes is a form of the homage to the ancestors in order to make the ancestors “help” them in reaching the good purposes that are based on religious or personality spirit.
• The social value can be seen in the end of the Mandi Belimau ceremony, that is the tradition of Sepintu Sedulang. In this process, the people from any social stratum bring the food that is eaten together later.
• The last is the entertaining value. Actually, this value is a consequence of the tourism penetration, that is when the government makes this ceremony as one of the local culture event that could be used for supporting the people and local income.

(LA/ter/04-08)

Bibliography

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• Bangtjik Kamaluddin. Mandi Belimau di Dusun Limbung Bangka Belitung on http://metrobangkabelitung.wordpress.com/2008/01/15/ mandi-belimau-di-dusun-limbung-bangka-belitung/. Accessed on January 9^th, 2007.
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