The javanese wayang shadow puppet s narratives on earth, land, landscape: Understandings of space to place

This writing investigates the above phenomena and aimed to introduce the Indonesian Javanese ways of thinking and reading their natural and human-made landscapes through narratives and rituals of the shadow puppet (wayang) which conveys the meaningful and rich cultural memories (context, history, tradition and local wisdom) about earth, land and landscape. The Javanese culture is a dominant one in Indonesia. Wayang is a popular puppet shadow play, or better, a ritual in traditional Java; a living tradition that can be used as a tool to dig up the people s ideas and concept of nature and landscape. UNESCO in 2003 has decided wayang as Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity in 2003. Almost every aspect of wayang is imbued with symbolic meaning. For instance, the noncharacter wayang, the kayon, represents center of the Javanese ordered cosmos, a reflection of the wishing tree - symbol of the cosmic order. This is a reflection of the old primordial binary concept with addition of the center element - to create a balanced world. Earth becomes land when people start to work on it or put they imprint on it for living, Land becomes landscape when it is crafted in a way that fulfils the functional and aesthetic needs of the people. It is argued that narrative of this kind can be used to trace creative efforts in space and place-making in traditional landscape and as a way to tell stories that link people to place and how their design can become important vehicle for making values of conservation visible. The understandings gained can address the multiple and complex issues in sustainable development to reveal a sense of identity on creation of space and place which now becomes a necessity in this globalization era.