Jean, I cannot answer any of those questions.

This sort of thing can be hypothesised over forever, but its not the sort of thing that I have ever heard any discussion or opinions on, in fact, generally speaking I doubt if a matter of this nature would be of much interest to anybody I know.

Not everything that you will find in EK can withstand testing.

Do they occur in Jogja? Maybe, but I've never seen one worn there and I do not know where they fit. A keris wrongko needs to be identified with dress and occasion. This is not a haphazard thing. If these calendar wrongkos were/are used in Jogja for what purpose were they used? I personally have no idea, but then I know very little about Jogja style and form.

Thank you Alan and I realize that my questions are difficult, actually they were passed to me by another collector so we are at least 2 interested people :D
However there is a specific one to which you may be able to reply: do you remember if your mranggi neighbour Agus "Warangka" from Solo who spoke to you about these "calendar wrongkos" actually made them or not? This would give some indication whether these pieces are also found in Solo or not.
Best regards

That's an easy one Jean.

These wrongkos definitely have no place in Solo.

A wrongko is not just a thing to put a keris in.

Since at least the first quarter of the 19th century a wrongko is an item of dress that had and has prescribed forms for defined wear.

In its function as an item of dress it doesn't even need to have a proper keris in it. I've seen wrongkos being worn with cut out pieces of tin in them, in place of a keris blade. Not even flat iron, but tin, like a piece of an oil container cut to shape. This is fairly common amongst poor people. I have even seen a piece of cardboard used to support the jejeran, instead of a keris blade.

As an item of dress, the keris itself doesn't matter much, it is the perception that the wearer has a keris of the proper type in the proper place that is important.

Odd shaped wrongkos have no place as items of dress.

I never saw Agus working on or with one of these calendar wrongkos.

In my opinion you can eliminate the possibility of this form of wrongko being used in Surakarta.

Thank you Alan, and I will try to get some clues about these wrongkos from an experienced Yogya seller who has close ties with the kraton. :)
Regards

I found this article about "Warangka wulan tumanggal" (Alan was right as usual!) in the Keris magazine vol. 07-08/2007. May be one Indonesian member would be kind enough to summarize the contents for our reference? :)
Regards

Jean, the title is clear, isn't it? With your additions?

The little bit of text says nothing at all that is relevant to the wrongko type, its just a repeat of the fall of Mojo and the rise of Demak. Historical stuff, but having said that, it appears to be framed as popular history, not in the light of the most recent academic opinion.

If you can post copies of the other pages I'll read them and give a summary, but I most sincerely doubt that you will find any revelations therein. Accuracy of information might also be a problem.

Thank you Alan, I will scan the other pages and send them to you by Email for copyright reasons.
Regards

Nice find Jean, if only for another source for the name of this particular sheath form. :)

Jean sent me a copy of this article and I've read it, at his request I'm posting here the precis I sent to him.


" The author is of the opinion that the WT wrongko form was inspired by the Middle-Eastern symbol of the crescent moon and star, and that this wrongko form arose on the Nth. Coast of Jawa with the blossoming of Islam. Islam used as one of its methods of penetration the penetration of Javanese keris culture.

He points out that the form also exists in the Malay Peninsula and can be found until today, so he asks the question:- " did the WT form originate in Jawa or in Malay Pen.?"
The answer to this questions is:- "from the assumption that keris culture began in Jawa, thus all things associated with keris culture also come from Jawa"

This generates the question of how it got from Jawa to Malaya.

Answer:- a fleet of ships put together on the Nth. Coast of Jawa set out with the intention to destroy the Portuguese in Malacca, however, Sultan Trenggono wanted the Portuguese to destroy this fleet, because by doing so it would weaken his competitors in Jawa. The fleet never made it to Malacca, but beached on the east coast, the ships were burnt, and the crews settled in the area and became farmers, married locally and never returned to Jawa, but traces of Javanese culture remained, including the form of the WT wrongko. The area where they settled they named Trengganu in memory of Sultan Trenggono. You can disregard spelling variation, if it sounds right it is right, Javanese is a non-standard language.

In summary:- the writer theorises that the WT form arose in Jawa with the rise of Islam, and was taken from Jawa to the Malay Pen. By a group of ship-wrecked warriors. The form was inspired by the Middle Eastern symbol of the crescent moon and star.

It’s a theory of origin, and may well have a grain of truth in it, but the writer produces no evidence nor logical argument to support his theory. There is lots of popular history in the article but how much is fact and how much is myth or legend is open to question."

Thank you Alan and this theory makes sense for explaining the presence of similar wrongkos "dua hari bulan" in Malaysia and East Sumatra (Riau). :)
Regards

If I may be allowed to offer an opinion on the meaning of Wulan Tumanggal, it would be as follows:

Wulan tumanggal = gêlaring baris awangun satêngah buwêngan (ora têmu-gêlang)

Essentially, it means that it's a line with circular shape and neither of its ends connect. (Doesn't form a bracelet)

A crescent moon is a Wulan Tumanggal shape. In this context, that Warangka shape would fall into this category as well.