Javanese

Javanese is, at 90 million people in 2004, the largest Ethnic group in Indonesia.

Javanese people were originated from the island of Java. Today, they are concentrated in the provinces of East Java, Central Java and Yogyakarta.

Language

Javanese people uses Javanese language in everyday speech. In a public poll held Circa-1990, approximately 12% of Javanese used Indonesian, around 18% used both Javanese and Indonesian and the rest used Javanese.

For more information, find a special page on Javanese language.

Family

Culturally, Javanese people adopt a paternalistic system that traces the hierarchic lineage of the father. This system is particularly used to determine descendants' right to use royal titles before their names. However, it is not customary for Javanese to have descended family name.

Religion

Most Javanese nominally follow Islam. Some also follow Christianity (Protestantism and Catholicism). This is also true in rural areas.

Buddhism and Hinduism also are found in the Javanese community.

Some Javanese also follow the ethnic religion Kejawen, which was animistic with strong influences from Hinduism and Buddhism.

The Javanese community is also known for Syncretism of beliefs. All the outside cultures were absorbed and interpreted according to the Javanese values so the beliefs sometimes became hazy.

Profession

In Indonesia, Javanese could be found in all fields, especially in the Government and the Military.

Social stratification

The famous American antropologist Clifford Geertz in the 1960s divided the Javanese community into three groups: santri, Abangan and Priyayi. According to him, the Santri was the follower of the religion Islam that obeyed, the Abangan was the follower Islam nominally or the follower Kejawen, whereas the Priyayi was the nobility. But today the Geertz opinion is often opposed because he mixed the social groups with belief groups. It was also difficult to apply this social categorisation in classing outsiders, for example other non-indigenous Indonesians such as persons of Arab, Chinese and Indian descent.

Art

The famous Javanese Wayang puppetry culture was influenced by Hinduism and Buddhism. The Wayang repertoire stories, lakon, are mostly (loosely) based on the great epics from India; Ramayana and Mahabharata. There are also influences from Islam and the Western world.

Gamelan musical ensembles are found in both Java and Bali.

Famous Javanese people

Grammy Award for Best Recording Package   Index

This page is based on the Wikipedia article ''Javanese''. It is licensed under the GNU free documentation license.

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