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Wayang Kulit in Central Java is probably one of the oldest continuous traditions of storytelling in the world, and certainly among the most highly developed.
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The wayang is a flat or round puppets used for shows in Java.The wayang kulit is the flat one and it is made with buffalo leather. They are maipulated behind a white screen with a back light, so the attendance can see them as shadow puppets.
Wayang is well integrated in Javanese society, and it is considered to be a highlight of Javanese culture.
Wayang Kulit was already established in the East Javanese kingdoms one thousand years ago.
Wayang is a Javanese word meaning "shadow" or "ghost", kulit means "leather", and added together "shadow from leather". By extension Wayang is a theatrical performance of living actors (wayang orang), three dimensional puppets (wayang golek) or shadow images projected before a backlit screen (wayang kulit).The wayang kulit use two-dimensional puppets chiseled by hand of buffalo or goat parchment; like paper dolls, but with arms that swivel.
A wayang kulit puppet is a stylized exaggeration of a human shape.
Of the many different style of wayang kulit, by far the most popular is the form practiced in Central and East Java, the most populated island of Indonesia.
In the following page, you will find a description of a performance in a Javanese village. Then we have made several pages to explain whet Wayang is about. Most of the stories are from Indian epics but they were transformed by generations of Javanese tellers.
More on
shadow puppets
News
UNESCO rewards Wayang Kulit
In 2003 the UNESCO
proclaimed the Wayang puppets Theater of Indonesia as a "Masterpiece of
the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity"
The related action plan recommends that
specialized schools play a greater role in the transmission of
traditional skills linked to wayang and that support be provided to
enable puppeteers to earn a living as professional performers. The plan
also calls for the creation of inventories, publications, audio-visual
recordings and seminars designed to encourage research.
More on
shadow puppets
2006-05-06