Pakem and Keris

[A. G. Maisey]

Yes Jussi, people are people and they have tended to organise themselves into similar social, cultural, tribal formats.

Yes, at the most basic level a cross probably generated certain thoughts and emotions in a an early Christian, and a keris probably generated certain thoughts and emotions in an early Javan.

All of that I think we can accept without argument.

However, I do not think that the thoughts and emotions of an early Christian, which were generated by the image of a cross, would have been in any way similar to the thoughts and emotions of an early Javan when he considered the keris, in any of its personas.

If we want to understand the place of the keris in Javanese culture, we need to first understand that culture. The nature of Javanese society and its culture has changed over time, so we need to relate our understanding to a specified period. To do this is not easy and requires a lot of time and study. All we can do in a discussion group such as this is to touch upon the superficial aspects.

At a superficial level, yes, both the cross and the keris expressed a certain symbolism for the groups to which they related, but that which each symbolised was different.