"Sacred Place" between Rice Field

This place is called Mbogo.

It is a famous enough place in Tasikhargo. It is kind of a forest in the middle of rice fields. Most people are coming there to enjoy the sceneries, the old giant trees. Not only teenagers, children and elders also come there for several reasons. Mostly, they come in the morning or evening as they can see sunrise and sunset clearly. Besides, they can breathe fresh air while enjoying the wonderful sceneries.

Sunrise and sunset are such incredible sceneries in this place. Yet when the night comes, this place will be different. Famous place, beautiful sceneries, quiet, and far away from residents house makes this place become “special place” for some people especially for lovers. Well, this place is misused now, and this place is known for a “romantic place”. Moreover, this place is also heaven for drunkard as they can drink “alcoholic drink” without noticed by anybody.

It is so irritating to know that this beautiful place has changed. Back again several years ago when this place was known for the mystic, sacred place. According to the story, Mbogo was a famous place to hold a rite. There were so many rites holding here such as rites to get blessing  from God. There were two giant trees inside mbogo that were beringin and bulu trees. As the myth said, beringin was considered as sacred trees, and having magic power. Therefore, many people looked for enlightenment there. They used to bring offering for the ancestors keeping the place. The offering could be panggang (roasted chicken), flowers (roses, jasmines), bananas, jajanan pasar and other offerings. Sometimes, they slept over in mbogo to get enlightenment. This habit was known as nepi. According to the story, most people came there looking for togel number. Togel was kind of gambit and most people there liked to play togel and they wanted to win. That was why they liked to get shortcut.

Now, in the modern era, this place is not as sacred as used to be. However, there are still some people holding rites in mbogo. They keep the tradition as the ancestor taught them. Keeping the sacred place, some efforts have been done by the villagers. They chase away people who drunk or do something bad. This aims to keep mbogo become a good place for the sacredness and beauty of nature. This is the combination of gods and nature, therefore people have their duties to keep it.