Tahlil

Walking back from Universitas Muhammadiyah with Allyson today, I could hear the amp well before I got home. I hoped it was just the masjid next door, and crossed my fingers. But the woman’s voice gave it away (because only men sound the prayers from our masjid). Again, for the second time in five weeks, Ibu was hosting a “tahlil” at our home. Doing a walk-by on my way to drop off Allyson, I could see my living room emptied of furniture and packed with sitting women all in conservative dress. So upon returning, I snuck in through the side door to avoid disturbing the meeting.

I use “meeting” loosely because I’m not exactly sure what a tahlil is. And after consulting with both my host family and language teacher, I’m even more confident that no one else does either, but here’s what I gathered. Men and women attend separate tahlils that can reach up to one-hundred people and are held in our village seemingly every week. The gatherings are religious in nature and include elements of both Islam and traditional Javanese traditions. My cousin explained that their purpose is to provide opportunities for community members to pray to (maybe “for”) the deceased family members of the meeting’s host at regular intervals following a funeral. So there’s plenty of chanting and singing. And afterwards, everyone who attends takes home pre-packed dinners for their families. I have no idea who pays for these, but it looked like one of Ibu’s sisters was collecting some cash).

I was also looking forward to studying for today's comprehensive Bahasa Indonesia exam after the gathering dispersed; however, my friend from the kantor polisi decided to stop by for a long visit. On the upside, I got to hear an interesting perspective on Madurese culture. This upcoming week, I’ll be traveling to Pulau Madura in order to visit a current volunteer, attend some of his English classes, and see a real PC site. However, my policeman friend gave some stern warnings. Although “their hearts are good,” he said the Madurese are notoriously brash and dangerous with knives. He also mentioned that though people in Madura are very conservative, they’re pretty big into black magic as well (supposedly, some of them don't bleed). I don't expect to see any of these stereotypes affirmed on my trip, but I'm going to bed a bit more excited for the trip than I was this afternoon