Abstract
The malang today is a religious cultural icon which embodies an essential aspect of local culture and society. The present study focuses on the characteristic visual appearance of malangs as well as their behavior and the ritual practices that they adopt today. Furthermore, this study examines the apparel and multifarious trinkets they wear and carry with them. We suggested the term in this article that they are called the friends of ‘The Friends of God’. Many believe that they have spiritual healing powers. We conducted a series of ethnographic fieldworks. One of the basic findings of this research reveals that malangs are rejected by normal religion and conversely they reject society. We argue in this study that malangs actually are the powerful signifiers because of their easily recognizable appearance and the various articles they carry on their person represent a complex cultural code of a spiritual way of life. They embody important values beyond normal religious customs and rituals. They are the residue of the sacred.
Keyword(s)
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