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Lombok in Indonesia offers a wide array of entertainment in the form of Cultural
shows, cinemas, theatres, comedy shows and puppet shows. The most interesting
and popular among them is the puppet shows that are predominantly influenced
by Javanese culture.
These puppet shows known as Wayang Kulit are done with shadow puppets and depicts
life with its incongruities and contradictions and teach the purpose and meaning
of life. Mythological stories or legend are also staged in this form of performing
art.
Wayang Kulit with its origin in Central Java is one of the oldest and highly
developed continuous story-telling traditions in the world. In the year 2003,
the UNESCO declared the Wayang Puppets Theater of Indonesia as a "Masterpiece
of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity"
According to Javanese terminology- "Wayang" means 'shadow' or 'ghost'
and "kulit" means 'leather', when joined together, they mean "shadow
from leather". It is called so as this flat or round puppets made of buffalo
leather are projected before a backlit screen so that shadow images of these
puppets are visible. Altogether 'Wayang Kulit' consists of a theatrical performance
of live actors (wayang orang) as well as the three or two dimensional puppets
(wayang golek). These puppets are the conventionalized magnification of a human
shape.
The puppets used in Wayang Kulit reflect great craftsmanship and are usually
made by scraping thin parchments of goats or buffaloes. The best puppets are
created from the hides of young female water buffalo while ordinary puppets
are made from thick buffalo hides, sticks and rice straw and even scrap metal
or cardboard.
These puppets have varying heights of 10 to 30 inches and have swiveling arms.
The superior puppets are painted with traditional colors including indigo,
yellow ochre, powdered burnt bone for white, cinnabar and lampblack. All these
colors are blended with egg tempera and fish glue and other mediums and accented
with gold leaf. Cheaper puppets are done in store paint and gilt.
In fact the characters of the shows are identified by their color, for instance-
the mythological figure Vishnu is represented in black, Lord Siva has a golden
face.
The red color depicts a fervid temperament while white represents youth and
innocence.
The virtuous and elegant characters have a small body and stature while the
violent characters have bodies, bigger and rounder eyes and noses.
Significant characters are represented by different versions in a set. Apart
from the characters of Gods and characters, there are also puppets of various
animals and birds!
These beautiful puppet shows may last up to nine hours and is a great source
of entertainment for all sections of the society.
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