The Kawalu Fest

The Kawalu Fest has just begun. All people of Kanekes express the inner deep gratitude to the One and only One God, Sang Hyang Batara Tunggal. The ceremony of Kawalu will last for three months, from April to June. During this time no visitor is allowed to enter the villages.

What do they do during this three months? They will be fasting, praying and praising their Sang Hyang Batara Tunggal who have blessed them this year with the yielding crops. They are harvesting the rice padi huma. Their hard work so far in farming the rice fields are returning fruits. They do the farming without any chemical ingredient. They solely depend on the fertile soil, the rain and their traditional swidden system. The whole padi they harvested will be deposited on the padi's barn. They do not keep them in their house. This new harvested padi will not yet be consumed until the chief leader 'Puun' said so. Bring them to the market? No. They are forbidden by their customary law to sell the rice to outer territory. On the other hand, they are encouraged to buy rice from the market for their daily need.

Because the padi barns serve the Last In First Out, the years ago padi will come out this year. The women will be doing the 'Nutu' process. The Nutu is a process of separating padi's grain from its cover to be ready for serving. This is done by smashing the padi barns on the 'Lisung' with the 'Halu,' the stamper wood. It is not because the Baduy cannot afford the crushing machine, they merely do not want to use it.

The ceremony of Kawalu will be culminated by the Seba ceremony. At the Seba, some Baduy men visit the capital city of Serang to meet the Governor, presenting various agricultural products that the Baduy harvested this year. This is a symbol of recognition. By doing so, the Baduy recognize the ruling government. The Baduy has been doing this for centuries, since the Kingdom Banten Sultanate, the Dutch, the Japanese and the Republic of Indonesia.

It seems to us that most of the Baduy people do not understand the modern political system that governs their territory. They might still think that the history has never changed. They do not aware that they are Indonesian citizen now.

This Seba ceremony itself signs one thing to outsider, that they demand the ruling government recognition in return. They demand that their property rights to be protected, that their old-fashioned customary laws to be respected and their villages territory to be favored. Although some of the Baduy's customary laws are against the National Laws, they insist that the National Law are not applicable to them. For example, Baduy's children will not comply the National Laws of Education that state it is a compulsory for citizen aged from 6 to attend 9 years schooling.

Indeed, the Baduy gives us  clear signs that you do not necessarily need to get educated to be a free man.