Jathilan

The term jathilan is Central–Southern Javanese in origin,[5] composed of the basic word of "jathil"[6] and the "-an" suffix, literally means "to ride [on top of something]" or "extending outward",[6] refers to the dance performance itself, which retells the historical legend of Javanese knights who rode the horses.[7]

The performance of Jathilan accompanied by Angklung musical instrument in West Java, c. 1905

The Jathilan is pre-Islamic, it means these cultural dance performance predates the existence of Muhammadinism, and was invented by the Javanese in Central–Southern regions of Java (present-day Yogyakarta and Surakarta).[1][5] The dancers of Jathilan were originally all males, as it represents the Javanese knights who fought against their enemies or rivals.[8] Traditionally, to be a Jathil (the dancer of Jathilan), one have to follow the rural polytheistic Javanism ritualistic custom which required them to be sexually anal-penetrated (sodomized) until the Jathil candidates declared 'proficient' to do the act of performance to 'ride' the horses. The masters who took control over their Jathil were designated and chosen earlier, and Jathil have to obey the rules by not leaving their master's home and have to took the role as a temporary legal partner for months (at least ranging three to six months). The masters of Jathilan are known locally as the Warok[4] (usually characterized by wearing a topeng mask), and the Jathil will be temporarily identified as Gemblak[4] during their 'pet time'.[9] These kind of behavior was seen as one of the early forms of LGBTQ+ (especially homosexuality) in Indonesia,[10] especially on the island of Java (as opposed to the similar ancient LGBTQ+ practice happened on the Sulawesi Island, practiced mainly by the Bugis).

The female Jathilan dancers in Yogyakarta

Sometimes around 7th to 17th century CE during the heyday of Islam, the Javanese society started to adopt the Islamic religious teachings and values, their traditional practice were slowly shifted, with the replacement of males by females for Jathil. Since then, the dancers of Jathilan were dominated by females, and still preserved to these day (especially in eastern Java, where the customs were kind of influenced by the Madurese ethnoreligious people who had strong adherent alliance to the religion of Islam). However, although the dancers were already replaced by the females, it does not mean that these performance will be played following the Islamic rules perfectly, the consumption of intoxicating drinks for the dancers are still common, hence, the Jathilan is still known as one of the 'trance dance'[6] amongst the society. The practice of crossdressing are still observable as well. Due to its history that considered by most people as taboo, the term Jathil or Jathilan were not really vocally used in public to refers the performance, and the terms like "Jaran Kepang" or "Kuda Lumping" (which originally refers to the cultural attribute element representing Sanghyang jaran, the horse deity in Javanism) were started to be used interchangeably to refer to these cultural dance performance.[11]

• Reog – an eastern Javanese masked-dance performance from Ponorogo