THE RELIGION OF THE PEOPLE OF JAVA.
By J. E. Budgett Meakin
WHAT the present religion of Java is it would be very hard to say, for, while the bulk of the natives are Mohammedans in name, they would hardly be recognized as such by stricter coreligionists in other countries, for there remains mixed up with their belief so much that more properly belongs to heathendom that, though the people are no longer actually idolaters, they are but little removed from a jumble of Hinduism, Brahmanism, and Buddhism, and in some parts still adhere entirely to these creeds. The idols are not to be seen in the houses; they still remain by the roadsides, and vegetables, flowers, fruit, fish, cakes, etc., are constantly offered to them and the spirit world in general. On the whole, the people are by no means intensely religious, as in India, and even of their own nominal religion they are very ignorant, probably not one per cent being able to read. The main object of their worship is to ward off the effects of evil spirits by propitiation rather than by the merit-making common in neighboring lands. Flowers may often be observed strewn at the crossroads to pacify spirits who, on arrival there, may feel in doubt as to the turning to take; and with the same object graves are decked with blossoms, which are also freely used in headdresses and ornamenting rooms. Although but one God is acknowledged, trees, stones, anthills, and various other objects come in for worship, and many other things for veneration. Of the future life the people do not hold any distinct ideas, though a water can, a water cup, an umbrella, and a couple of fresh coconuts are placed on graves for the convenience of the newly departed, and a bamboo is let down from the outer air to the chest in order that breathing may be possible. Relics of ancestral worship also remain, and high-class families keep beautifully written and often illustrated family registers. Self-punishment is met with, though not general, and hermits may occasionally be seen who sit on a tree for a fortnight at a time without eating or speaking. Priests there are whose chief occupation is the repetition of charms, and converts hardly freed from superstition have been known to make this use of the Lord's prayer and the beatitudes. Missionaries find that the initial difficulty is the indifference to spiritual matters, for the heathen say that Christianity and Islam are the same to them; and it is only in certain districts that there are bigoted Mohammedans, chiefly those who have been to Mecca, for which facilities increase each year. The people are, however, ruled through local native chiefs, who are at the same time their religious heads, which makes it very difficult for them to make a change; and those who do so have also to suffer persecution from their friends to a considerable extent. This has led to the formation of a number of Christian colonies in the island, some of which are extremely flourishing. What they seem to fear most, though, is the limitation to one wife without divorce facilities, and the enforced abandonment of opium and other habits. Almost all the converts, nevertheless, become evangelists, many of them preaching regularly in the villages, and mission work is little more than directed by the European workers, who are all Dutch. There is such feeling on the part of the natives toward their Dutch conquerors that the missionaries have to studiously avoid all connection with the government, identifying themselves with those among whom they work, and state aid has been refused by native churches. In the mission schools I visited Dutch was not even taught, only Malay and Javanese.—Gospel in All Lands.