Egg in Javanese Marriage Ceremony

Every ethnic group almost always has its own tradition in many aspects of life. So does Javanese tribe. They have so many traditions and ceremonies. One aspect of life that has many ceremonies is marriage.

Yes, in Javanese marriage you will find so many ceremonies. It starts before marriage performing until after marriage performing. Actually, some people start to leave the ceremonies for practicability. But the others still defend them. Of course, besides for tradition reason, also for prestige.

One of unique marriage ceremonies of Javanese tribe is connected to egg. The ceremony is ‘ngidak endog’ (breaking egg) that continued by ‘wijik’ (cleaning). In the ceremony, the bridegroom must break a chicken egg by his feet. Then the bride cleans the bridegroom’s feet that dirty by flower water.

(Image from Google)

Those ceremonies contain traditional values. Contain good hopes. Breaking the egg symbolizes that the couple’s aura has faded sexually. Bride cleans bridegroom’s feet symbolizes wife’s submission to husband. It also symbolizes that good behavior will effect good result too. It’s a hope that from the marriage will be borne good children that will dedicate their selves to parent, family and country.

The tradition is still exist in Indonesia, especially in province of Yogyakarta Special Region and Solo (Surakarta) city, province of Middle Java. In those places, Javanese traditions are still very strong.