Sanghyang Jaran Dance

a small number of men are put into trance but their transition is much more violent they fall, convulsed, to the ground and rush to grab hobbyhorses force that enters bodies of entranced dancer a priest is always on hand to help bring dancers out of their trance-state at the end of the performance during the pre-trance chanting coconut shells have been lit leaving red-hot coals the trancers are said to be attracted by all forms of fire onlookers are required not to smoke the entranced dancers leap into the coals, prancing on top of them picking up the hot pieces and bathing themselves in fire kecak chorus men accompany the Sanghyangs can be seen four times a week in Bona, Bali where it is claimed that the dancer are indeed possessed, though by lesser deities silent, but communicate using complex gestures of the hand, head and body story lines usually follow popular myths or episodes from history a boy dances around and bravely through a fire riding a coconut palm hobbyhorse Sanghyang means holiness, Jaran means horse