The History of Reog Ponorogo

Translate to :

Reog was one of the cultural art that came from East Java esspecially coming from ponorogo city. If you coming to this city in the gate of this city you will see the statue of Warok and Gemblak. Both of them are took part in appearing when Reog was shown. Reog was one of the proof of the regional culture in Indonesia that still close with mystique matters.

Basically there are two popular story that developed in the community about the Reog origin and Warok, but one of the most famous stories was the story about the Ki Ageng Kutu revolt, a royal servant in the Bra Kertabumi period, King Majapahit finally that had the power in the 15th age. Ki Ageng Kutu feeling not so good with the strong influence from the king’s chinese colleague , and corrupt bevahiour of king . He saw that the authority of the Majapahit Kingdom will end. Then he left the king and established the college where he taught young children self-defence art, he hope that these young children will become the seed from the resurgence again the Majapahit kingdom in the future.
Realize that his troops were too small to oppose royal troops then politically Ki Ageng Kutu created one of the Masked Dance art. That’s dance art is call reog. From the performance Reog art , he sent the message to the king. That was the “hint” to King Bra Kertabumi and his kingdom. The Reog performance became the Ki Ageng Kutu method of developing the community’s local opposition used the Reog popularity.

In the Reog performance was put forward the mask had the shape of the head of the lion that was known as the “Barong Lion”, the king of the forest, that became the symbol for Kertabumi, and above was transfixed peacock hairs who symbolised the strong influence of his Chinese colleagues that arranged on all of his movements. Jatilan, that was played by the woman dancer’s group gemblak that rode horse became the symbol of the strength of Majapahit royal troops that became the contrast comparison with the strength of warok, that was overturned the clown’s red mask that became the symbol of Ki Ageng Kutu, Warok used to supported heavy the mask singabarong that reached more than 50kg only by using his teeth. This art becoming popular and more popular. The popularity of Ki Ageng Putu had finally caused King Kertabumi to take the action to attack him, the revolt by warok quickly was overcome, and the college was forbidden to continue teaching warok. In other hand, Reognya art personally still was permitted to be staged because of becoming the popular performance around the community, but the king changes the story. The story adding the local hero like Kelono Sewondono, Dewi Songgolangit, and Sri Genthayu.

Another Version of Reog

Another version of Reog Ponorogo is told about a legendary battle between Pujangga Anom, a minister from the court of Ponorogo, and Singa Barong, guardian spirit of the forest of Lodoyo. The former had aroused the anger of Singa Barong when he stole 150 tigers from the forest, apparently to be offered as a dowry payment for a princess of Kediri, whom the king of Ponorogo wished to marry.
At that time The region of Ponorogo was called Wengker, the seat of the kingdom of Bentarangin (now the area of subdistrict Sonoroto) under King Kelana Sewandono. He had a governor, Pujangga Anom (in the Reog dance called Bujangganong). One night Kelana Sewandono dreamed meeting a beautiful princess, Songgolangit. He felt in love with her and ordered his governor to ask the hand of the princess. This proposal was accepted on the condition that the King should present an attraction which was still unknown at that time.

King Kelana Sewandono then decided to kill the powerful King Singo Barong, who was pictured as a king with a tiger’s head bearing a wide-winged peacock. The victorious King Kelana Sewandono then went into procession to the palace of the princess, bearing the defeated Singo Barong. The procession attracted great attention during the trip to the palace.
No matter its origin, the Reog dance is a popular attraction, not only in Ponorogo, but all over Java to be performed on various events, including the field of tourism.
The people of Ponorogo have a reputation for being tough, both physically and mentally. The qualities of bravery and daring are fully displayed in a reog performance, where the focus of attention is on a trance dancer supporting a giant mask, often weighing more than 40 kg, between his teeth. The mask is a ferocious, snarling tiger’s head, covered in real tiger skin and crowned with a gigantic three meter fan of peacock feathers.

The success of a performance, including the ability of the principal dancer to bear the weight of the mask, is said to depend upon the magical power of the leader of the dance troupe. Known as warok, these men are believed to possess special talents, gained through years of training. One of the unique features of the reog dance is that the hobby horse (jaran kepang) dancers are invariably young boys dressed as women. Known as gemblak, they accompany the warok, who are forbidden close association with females, in their travelling performances.
Contest of Reog dance is presented annually by the local government. Ngebel, a natural lake and batik printing of ponorogo are also worthwhile seeing.

The team of players is completed with riders on horses made of bamboo plaitwork or skin of animal. They symbolize the escorting soldiers of King Kelana Sewandono on his trips. Formerly these horse-riders were played by men called Gembak. But now they are generally women.
The total number of a Reog team is between 20 and 40 members, including the magical heroes (waroks) with open breasts and waist band, symbolizing their magic power.