
Wayang in English means "shadow." Wayang kulit is a puppet-shadow show that is performed by a puppet master, or Dalang.
Wayang kulit existed in Java, Bali , and some Asean countries in the past. However, the ethnic group that still preserves the tradition is the Javanese.
Wayang will be identical to Javanese culture, language, art, and music. There are some arts that are mixed in the Wayang Kulit performance.
- Painting
A wayang is made of lamb or cow skins. Each of the characters has a different look. The painting and the artistic coloring are very unique because every newly created wayang should be similar to the old one.


This is Werkudoro
The difference is in the clothing and accessories. The face, the body scale are usually the same.
- Music
In a wayang performance, the show will last all night. The show is accompanied by the traditional musical instrument "gamelan". There are also some female singers. They are called "sinden".

Humas Polsek Pajangan
- Fashion
All the artists in the wayang performance should wear Javanese traditional clothes. The puppet master should have Keris on his back instead of his cloth. Sinden, or singers, wear Kebaya. It is a traditional cloth for Javanese women.

Dalang or the puppet master wikimedia
- Language
Dalang should master the ancient Javanese language. It is different from the daily spoken language. There are many words and expressions that have similarities to the Sanskrit language.
- Art of literature
Many Wayang stories are taken from the Mahabharata and Ramayana stories. However, the puppeteers changed and adapted it to the contemporary conditions of Javanese society. During the spread of Islam, wayang stories were widely embraced by Islamic teachings.
Dalang often satirizes moral problems and bad habits in society. People who watch wayang are entertained and influenced by the good values conveyed by the dalang. The essence of the story in a wayang performance is the war between good and evil.
In Wayang, stories often tell of the fight between the good and the evil spirits. The evil spirit characters will win at first, but at the end of the stories, the good characters will win the battle.
- Art performing
It is a harmonic collaboration among the arts. Dalang is the center of the show. He will tell stories from the beginning to the end. The normal show will last all night. The show usually starts at 9:00 PM and finishes at 5:00 AM. It takes about 8 hours.
UNESCO has acknowledged Wayang as a Masterpiece of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity.
Wayang in the future
Puppet shows are usually performed at large events such as weddings, Independence Day, or the anniversary of an area in Java.
Few young people watch wayang, so the wayang artists rarely appear. This affects the income of these artists. In the future, the tradition of wayang performances will be less and less because wayang performances take more than 8 hours at night.
Many young dalangs make Wayang shorter. Some of Wayang's shows are uploaded to YouTube so that everyone can enjoy them. There are fewer candidates for puppeteers, so an arts college in Jogjakarta includes Wayang in the curriculum. Hopefully, this tradition will not be extinct, even though I see fewer wayang performances nowadays.
Dalang Ki Mantep
Dalang Ki Bayu Aji
Ki Dalang Kangko
Dalang Ki Enthus
Its nice it is being uploaded on YouTube. More interesting performances should be uploaded on YouTube and other platforms through which multitudes can access it, subtitles and other languages should be used too. These are some of the ways to keep this art going, its such a gem.
That is the problem. Some vidoes are not official works of the Dalang or the puppet masters. Most of the puppet masters are not friendly with social video platform. I think young people should do this work for the future, thanks for dropping.
Young people, even you can try convincing the Dalangs to embrace making videos and posting on social media. How about that, man? You can even learn to be a Dalang yourself and save this culture, you can make a lot of money in the process too😀
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