by Sufi cults. The real mix of influences is in fact even more complex
than that. For some Indonesians, the mystical Javanist cults are a gen-
uine but eccentric form of Islam; for others, the real gap lies between
local, Javanese elements and foreign (Muslim or Hindu) influences.
People, at least officially, all belong to oneof the groups defined by
these doctrines. I say "officially" because, as anthropologist Andrew
Beatty points out, the division between Muslim, Javanist and Hindu
is to some extent internal to most individuals. That is, the various
viewpoints and normative ideals that can be identified with these dif-
ferent traditions are tools that people combine much more freely
[268] than a description in terms of affiliation would suggest. Muslims
attend Hindu rituals and consider Hindu temples sacred places. Self-
declared Hindus include Muslim saints and ancestor-cult references
in their rituals. In the village where Beatty did his fieldwork, about a
fifth of the adult villagers (both Muslim and Hindu) were also mem-
bers of the mystical Javanist sect Sangkan Paran, which they did not
identify with religion because it was less concerned with an abstract
theology of the afterlife than with well-being and good fortune here
and now.
A good illustration of these combinations is the ritual slametan,a
formal meal that is at the center of most religious practices in Java.
This event is organized in conjunction with a variety of ritual occa-
sions, such as circumcision if the hosts are Muslims but also harvest
feasts or any other salient event. A slametanis organized to reunite vil-
lage factions, in cases of serious misfortune, and often to redeem a
vow. People who feel grateful for some good fortune hold a slametan
to celebrate the gods, God, spirits or ancestors to whom they are
indebted. As Beatty describes it, "The host makes a speech in High
Javanese explaining the purpose of the meal to his guests, incense is
burned, an Arabic prayer is recited by the guests;... the speech invokes
the host's ancestors, place spirits, Muslim saints, Hindu-Javanese
heroes, and Adam and Eve in a polytheistic jumble."^2
This is what students of religion generally call "syncretism"—a sit-
uation where there is a mixture of heterogeneous elements. The term
is literally exact, for the elements that people insert in the slametanare
indeed borrowings from various sources: the teachings of the various
Muslim schools, the court rituals of old Javanese kingdoms, some local
ancestor cults and Hindu concepts. But the term syncretismis mislead-
ing if it suggests that people are confused, that is, that they build these
creative new combinations simply because they were not properlyRELIGION EXPLAINED