FOLKLORE

Folklore is the expressive body of culture shared by a particular group of people; it

encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. These
include oral traditions such as tales, proverbs and jokes. They include material
culture, ranging from traditional building styles to handmade toys common to the
group. Folklore also includes customary lore, the forms and rituals of celebrations
such as Christmas and weddings, folk dances and initiation rites. Each one of
these, either singly or in combination, is considered a folklore artifact. Just as
essential as the form, folklore also encompasses the transmission of these artifacts
from one region to another or from one generation to the next. Indonesian
children's bedtime stories used to be dominated by folktales. Remember the story
of Bandung Bondowoso building one thousand temples in one night to win the
hands of Roro Jonggarang (in Javanese mythology the origin story of Yogyakarta's
Prambanan Temple)? Or Joko Tarub, our own Peeping Tom, stealing a shawl from
an angel bathing in a lake so she would come back to him (Joko Tarub's
descendants according to another myth founded Java's great Mataram kingdom in
the 17th century)?

Now in the age of YouTube, Netflix, My Little Pony and We Bare Bears, folktales
have lost their magic, leading some local publishers to publish folktale picture
books that bowdlerize some of the stories's unsavory, non-child-friendly
elements to attract readers.

According to University of Indonesia's children's story expert Riris K. Toha-

Sarumpaet, in an article called "Batu Permata Milik Ayahanda: Dongeng
Tradisional Indonesia" ("Father's Diamonds: Indonesian Traditional
Folktales") published in Jurnal Perempuan in 2007, local folktales generally
display one or more of these four main themes: obedience, men’s wrath and
women’s loyalty, envy and sibling rivalry, trickery and childishness.

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Most Popular Indonesian Folk Tales

1. Bawang Merah Bawang Putih

"Bawang Merah Bawang Putih" ("Shallot and Garlic") is a Cinderella-type story of good
versus evil and very popular in Indonesia and Malaysia.

Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih are half-sisters who are polar opposites of each other.
Bawang Merah is a lazy, greedy girl spoiled by their mother while Bawang Putih is
obedient, diligent and does all the chores without complaint.

One laundry day in the river, Bawang Putih loses a scarf, which is picked up by an old
woman. The old woman says she will return the scarf if Bawang Putih cooks and cleans
for her. Bawang Putih does as she's told, gets the scarf back and the old woman as a gift
tells her to bring home one of her two pumpkins, a small or a large one.

Bawang Putih chooses the smaller pumpkin. When she breaks open the pumpkin at
home, she discovers the fruit is filled with jewelry.

Bawang Merah and their mother get jealous and want their own pumpkin filled with
jewelery, so they go to the river and deliberately lose their scarves. Then they visit the
old woman’s house and ask for a pumpkin. They bring home the big one (of course), but
instead of jewelry, their large pumpkin is filled with snakes.
The story has been adapted many times into stage plays, movies and TV series.

In 2005, it was made into an Indonesian soap opera (sinetron) set in contemporary

Indonesia. Bawang Merah and Bawang Putih became high-school teens. Revalina S.
Temat played Alya (Bawang Putih), the daughter of a rich, harmonious family, and Nia
Ramadhani played Siska (Bawang Merah) whose mother is a poor widow. There was an
additional character named Ferdi, played by Dimaz Andrean, a boy trapped in a love
triangle with Alya and Siska.

The series bagged the "Most Favorite Sinetron" award at the 2005 Panasonic Gobel
Awards. It was then screened on Malaysia’s TV3 in 2006-2007.

2. Malin Kundang

The original "Malin Kundang" story is set at a specific location, the Air Manis Beach in
Padang, West Sumatra. Malin Kundang tells the story of an ungrateful son who is cursed
into stone by his mother.

If you visit the beach, you can see a stone believed to be the cursed Malin Kundang
because it is shaped like a person face-down on his knees begging for forgiveness.
Another folktale from West Kalimantan called "Batu Menangis" ("The Crying Stone") has
a story very similar to Malin Kundang, but no "crying stone" has ever been discovered in
the area.

There are some differences between the two stories. Malin Kundang, in the beginning of
the story, is a hard-working, obedient young man. He sails the world to get more money
to support his mother. After many years, Malin comes back a rich man. New, vain Malin
now refuses to be associated with his poor mother. That's when the mother prays for
him to be transformed into stone.

Meanwhile, Batu Menangis's main character is a spoiled girl who never lifts a finger to
help her mother. Instead, she keeps saying to people that the mother is actually her
maid. Mother finally has enough and prays to God that the girl is turned into stone.

3. Timun Mas

A traditional story from Central Java, "Timun Mas" ("Golden Cucumber") features a brave
young girl who escapes the clutches of a giant called Buto Ijo ("The Green Giant").

It starts with a childless old widow living by herself. She visits Buto Ijo, a powerful giant,
asking to be blessed with a child. Buto Ijo gives her a large cucumber and asks her to
promise to give her first child to him to devour.

When the widow gets home, she finds a baby girl inside the cucumber. She names her
Timun Mas and forgets about her promise.

One day, when Timun Mas is already a teenager, Buto Ijo drops by the old woman’s
house asking her to fulfill her promise. The woman tells Timun Mas to run away, packing
her a supply of magic cucumber seeds, needles and salt.

Buto Ijo chases Timun Mas but she always manages to escape by deploying her
mother's magic tricks. Buto Ijo is finally defeated when Timun Mas sprinkles salt around
him that turns into an ocean and swallows him whole.
Publisher Erlangga for Kids (EFK) published a Disneyfied version of the story in 2016. In
it, Buto Ijo is a lonely giant who desperately wants Timun Mas to be his friend. Timun
Mas tells him to smile so he doesn’t look so terrifying. The story ends happily with a
smiling Buto Ijo hanging out with his new friends.

EFK editor Windrati Hapsari told the Jakarta Globe the story was deliberately edited to
carry a positive message of friendship and make it less scary for children.

4. Sangkuriang

The name Tangkuban Parahu, a volcano in Lembang, West Java, means "upturned boat"
in the local Sundanese dialect. The name is taken from a local legend that bears
similarities to the classical Greek tragedy "Oedipus Rex."

The story's heroine is an exiled princess called Dayang Sumbi who likes weaving to pass
her time. One day, her weaving needle goes missing and she's too lazy to find it. Instead
she makes a wish that she will marry whoever finds the needle for her.

A dog called Tumang finds the needle and brings it back to Dayang Sumbi. The dog
turns out to be a god cursed to live as a dog. Dayang Sumbi and Tumang marry, and
soon their son Sangkuriang is born.
Sangkuriang grows up to be a skillful hunter. He hunts with Tumang, but does not know
that the dog is actually his father. One day, when he could not find any prey
Sangkuriang kills Tumang and brings his liver home.

When Dayang Sumbi finds out her own son has killed her husband, she hits Sangkuriang
in the head, leaving a large scar, and banishes him.

Years later, Sangkuriang returns home and falls in love with his own mother – who has
been given the gift of eternal youth by the gods. Dayang Sumbi at first was attracted by
the young man, now a famous warrior, but she then sees the scar on Sangkuriang’s
head and realizes he’s her own son.

To stop Sangkuriang from marrying her, Dayang Sumbi orders him to make her a lake
and a big boat to sail on before dawn arrives. Sangkuriang summons the spirits of his
ancestors to help him finish the tasks.

Worried that Sangkuriang might actually make his deadline, Dayang Sumbi prays for
dawn to come early and uses her magic shawl to create sunlight. In desperation, and
thinking that he has failed his tasks, Sangkuring kicks his half-built boat upside down
and the upturned boat turns into a mountain.