Indonesia, the richest country in the world, has a beauty in terms of its nature, art and culture, ethnicity, race and religion. Talking about the Indonesian state will never end because this country has exoticism that may not be owned by any country. On this occasion, I will discuss one of the traditional arts owned by Indonesia, namely WAYANG. 



Wayang is an imitation puppet made of leather or wood carvings and so on, which can be used to portray characters in traditional drama performances (Balinese, Javanese, Sundanese, etc.), usually played by someone called a dalang.


That said, "wayang" comes from the word "ma Hyang", which means towards the spirituality of the power. However, there are also people who say "wayang" comes from a performance technique that relies on shadows (shadow / puppet) on the screen.


Wayang kulit itself is played directly by a narrator called a dalang. A Dalang itself cannot be played by just anyone. Apart from having to be good at playing puppets, the puppeteer must also know various stories of wayang epics such as Mahabrata and Ramayana.



The tradition of playing wayang stories is also carried on by several Islamic scholars, including the Wali Sanga. They began to broadcast the story of the Majapahit kings, including the Damarwulan story. The entry of Islam to Indonesia since the 15th century has also had a major influence on wayang culture, especially on the religious concept of the wayang philosophy. At the beginning of the 15th century, namely the era of the Demak Kingdom, a special shaped oil lamp called blencong was used in Wayang Kulit performances.


Indeed, because the art of wayang is so deeply rooted in the culture of the Indonesian people, there have been some confusion between wayang stories, legends, and history. If Indians think that the Mahabharata and Ramayana stories really happened in their country, Javanese people think that wayang stories really happened in Java.




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