SEX FESTIVALS AND PILGRIMAGE SITES IN INDONESIA

SEX PILGRIMAGE SITES IN CENTRAL JAVA

Tomb of Makam Roro Mendut

In Central Java, there are a number of pilgrimage sites that are visited by both male and female pilgrims, either to have sexual contact with each other or, in the case of male pilgrims, with prostitutes. Pilgrims are confident that sexual acts performed at these sites can help them achieve the goals of their pilgrimage: wealth, health and happiness. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

They adhere to a local form of Islam that is strongly influenced by mysticism and Sufi traditions. Venerating local saints and making pilgrimages to sites associated with them are part of their ritual repertoire. These sites are particularly visited on auspicious days such as Jumat Kliwon and Jumat Pon, and especially during the first month of the Islamic calendar, Suro or Muharram.

Three of the better known ones are held at: 1) he sanctuary Puri Cepuri in Parangkusumo, a village on the south coast of Central Java; 2) the tomb of Roro Mendut in Gandu, a village on the outskirts of Yogyakarta; and 3) the tomb of Pangeran Samudro in Pendem, a village on a hill north of Surakarta, better known as Gunung Kemukus.

Volker Gottowik wrote: What these sacred sites have in common, according to local terminology, is ritual seks, or ritual persetubuhan, that is, the idea that a sexual act can or should be one of the ritual acts performed by the pilgrims. Central to the legitimation of these heterodox ritual practices are local legends that not only tell of the exceptional love of particular couples in the historical past, but also link their happiness or unhappiness to particular places. Pilgrims visit these places and try to re-enact the behaviour of these sacralized lovers mimetically in order to acquire some of the spiritual power they embody. And what they mimetically re-enact is what ultimately gives love expression and fulfilment: the sexual act.

Local actors refer to ritualized forms of sexuality at sacred sites as pesugihan (from the Javanese root sugih, meaning ‘rich’), in the sense of a mutual pact concluded with a supreme being or spiritual powers to obtain wealth and happiness in exchange for the veneration of these powers represented by local saints. There are various places, particularly in Central and Eastern Java, that are considered suitable for pesugihan, and other ritual practices at these places include meditation, fasting, sacrifices, et cetera.3 However, it is only at those places that are associated with outstanding love couples and their memorable fate that ritual seks is practised.

Study and Context of Sexual Pilgrimage Sites in Central Java

Parangkusumo Beach

Ritual seks practices have long occupied a contentious place in Indonesian public life. For years they have attracted intense media attention—documented in vivid words and images by journalists—yet they remain strikingly underexplored in academic ethnography. None of the major sacred sites associated with these practices in Central Java has been systematically compared, leaving a gap between sensational coverage and careful cultural analysis. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

This neglect stems from at least two factors. First, the phenomenon is often obscured by its overlap with commercial prostitution, making it difficult to distinguish ritual intent from economic exchange. Second, in its current widespread form, it is relatively recent. Only with the broader “religionization” of Indonesian society—its growing tendency to interpret identity and practice through formalized religious frameworks—have local pilgrimages regained popularity. This revival has extended even to sites where devotion is intertwined with sexuality, suggesting that the renewed visibility of such rituals is not a relic of the past but a product of contemporary transformations. Religionization has not only strengthened global religions such as Islam, but has also reinvigorated local traditions (adat), allowing older cosmologies to re-emerge with new energy. As anthropologist Andrew Beatty observed, practices once marginalized or criticized have found fresh justification and motivation in recent decades.

The rise of ritual seks as a mass phenomenon over the past twenty to thirty years complicates common narratives of steady Islamization. While Islamic norms strictly prohibit sexual relations outside marriage and often discourage the veneration of local saints, these rituals persist—and even flourish—at pilgrimage sites associated with such figures. In this sense, they represent both a countercurrent and an anti-structural moment, challenging dominant moral frameworks. Unsurprisingly, this tension has provoked strong reactions. Organizations such as Majelis Ulama Indonesia and Front Pembela Islam have called for the closure of sites like Gunung Kemukus and for the prohibition of ritual seks altogether.

Yet political responses have been far from straightforward. Figures such as Ganjar Pranowo, who possess the authority to enforce such bans, have often taken ambivalent positions rather than decisive action. This hesitation reflects the layered nature of power in Javanese culture, where governance is not solely about legal enforcement but also about maintaining social balance and navigating competing moral worlds—an idea famously explored by Benedict Anderson.

Ultimately, the controversy surrounding ritual seks illustrates broader social and political tensions in Indonesia today. As the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation continues to negotiate its identity, public expressions of sexuality—once widely tolerated in contexts like dangdut performances—have come under increasing scrutiny. Legal developments such as the 2008 anti-pornography law have further intensified these debates, providing the state with mechanisms to regulate morality. Within this shifting landscape, ritual seks stands as a revealing flashpoint, where religion, tradition, sexuality, and power intersect in ways that resist simple categorization.

Labuhan Ceremony at Parangkusumo Beach

The Labuhan ceremony is a traditional Javanese ritual held along the southern coast of Java near Parangtritis, especially at Parangkusumo Beach, just south of Yogyakarta. Rooted in royal tradition, it is performed by the Yogyakarta Palace (Kraton) to commemorate the Sultan’s coronation anniversary or the sacred turning of the Javanese new year, Satu Suro. The ceremony unfolds as a carefully choreographed offering to the unseen forces that shape both kingdom and cosmos.

At its heart are the ritual offerings: food, fine cloth, fragrant flowers—especially kantil blossoms—and even intimate tokens such as clippings of the Sultan’s hair and nails. These objects, imbued with personal essence, are carried in solemn procession and cast into the ocean. They are intended for Nyi Roro Kidul, the enigmatic Queen of the South Sea, a figure both revered and feared, whose presence is believed to be as alluring as it is powerful. The act of giving is not merel

Local legend holds that the sanctuary of Puri Cepuri is the very place where Ratu Kidul and Panembahan Senopati exchanged their sacred marriage vows—an event that, in Javanese imagination, became one of the most enduring and powerful unions in Central Java’s history. Through this pact, the Queen of the South Sea pledged not only to secure Senopati’s rise to power but also to sustain the authority of his descendants, so long as each ruler, as heir to the Mataram line, symbolically renewed this bond through union with her. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

This mystical agreement continues to be commemorated at Parangkusumo through elaborate labuhan ceremonies held on the anniversary of a sultan’s enthronement. These rites reaffirm both the sultan’s legitimacy and Ratu Kidul’s enduring status as one of Java’s most potent spiritual forces. The coastline thus becomes a charged ceremonial space, where sovereignty, devotion, and myth converge in ritual performance.

Sex During the Labuhan Ceremony at Parangkusumo Beach

In remembrance of this legendary union, pilgrims gather at Parangkusumo during the ritually significant ritual of Jumat Kliwon and Selasa Kliwon. Their intentions are layered: alongside offerings and prayers, some seek to participate in a symbolic reenactment of the primordial bond between ruler and goddess. Couples—formed temporarily among pilgrims—withdraw into the expansive stretches of beach and dunes, where intimacy is understood by some as part of a larger spiritual gesture, echoing the union that once secured cosmic harmony. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

Because the number of male pilgrims has long exceeded that of female participants, the presence of sex workers has gradually become part of the site’s social reality. Since the early 1990s, increasing numbers of PSK (perempuan seks komersial) have established themselves in the area, offering services near the sacred grounds, between Puri Cepuri and the nearby Darus Salam Mosque, before retreating with clients to modest lodgings that have sprung up to accommodate the поток of visitors. These activities persist despite formal prohibitions against prostitution in Bantul, reflecting a complex accommodation by local authorities.

The economic, sexual and spiritual dimensions of the pilgrimage are tightly intertwined. With as many as 4,000 visitors arriving twice within a 35-day cycle, the community derives significant benefit, reinforcing a tacit tolerance of practices that might otherwise be suppressed. As blogger Peter Gray observed of this unusual coexistence, “Everything seemed to clash yet there was no trace of conflict” (Gray 2008c).

How and Why Sex at Parangkusumo Beach Has Come to Be

Judith Schlehe, an ethnographer focusing on Central Java since the 1980s, wrote in 2008: “the holy place in Parangkusumo....is increasingly interpreted as a place that is particularly suitable for physical love’. She refers to prostitutes in Parangkusumo and the explosive growth of prostitution since the early 2000s into a mass phenomenon. This increasing demand is the result of a process that Schlehe describes elsewhere as a ‘democratization’ of the relationship between the descendants of the Mataram dynasty and Ratu Kidul. Since these descendants no longer claim any matrimonial relationship with Ratu Kidul, but concede only a spiritual or familial, or at any rate an asexual relationship with her, ‘their “subjects” are now apparently free to experience it [the matrimonial relationship] for themselves. All can contact Ratu Kidul...And not a few men experience a sexual relationship with Ratu Kidul or one of her subordinate beautiful female spirits’ (Schlehe 1991, 1998). [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

Volker Gottowik wrote: some male pilgrims associate the prostitutes in Parangkusumo if not with Ratu Kidul, then at least with the female spirits just mentioned, ritual seks being an opportunity to pay homage to them and their power. As a result, the ‘desexualization’ of the relationship between the sultanate of Yogyakarta and Ratu Kidul (Schlehe 1998), which is frequently interpreted as an expression of the ongoing Islamization of Central Java (Schlehe 1991), coincides with the boom in ritual seks in Parangkusumo. In this respect, the pilgrims are responding to the neglect of traditions on the part of Hamenkubuwono X and other representatives of the religious and political elite on Java with an appropriation and revitalization of these traditions in their own interest.

In Parangkusumo, all responsible individuals, from the mayor to the imam to the juru kunci, admit to blocking out their moral and religious objections to ritual seks in favour of pursuing the economic benefits of a prosperous pilgrimage site. In taking this attitude, they are in agreement with the overwhelming majority of Parangkusumo’s inhabitants, who profit greatly from the fact that several thousand pilgrims visit their community twice within a cycle of 35 days. After all, these pilgrims have caused a considerable economic boom with their demand for goods and services: Parangkusumo, for a long time little more than a stretch of beach near Parang Tritis, will engulf this community very soon.

Tomb of Makam Roro Mendut

The tomb of Roro Mendut on the eastern outskirts of Yogyakarta remains one of the most contested sacred sites in Central Java. It marks the burial place of a young woman who chose death rather than betray her love for Ponocitro. In death, the two are believed to be reunited, and their story has earned them the enduring version of “Java’s Romeo and Juliet” (Hatley 1988:17). Set in the seventeenth century, their legend has inspired countless retellings across film, literature, music, and theater, embedding their трагic romance deeply within Indonesian cultural memory. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

Roro Mendut’s refusal to submit to the powerful men of her time has elevated her status beyond that of a tragic heroine. She is widely regarded as a symbol of resistance, celebrated for defending women’s rights and sexual self-determination. Modern interpretations of her story emphasize its striking relevance, noting that “Such ‘modern’ preoccupations as sexuality, gender identity and individual freedom are emphasized” (Hatley 1988:24). In this way, her legend continues to resonate with contemporary debates about autonomy and desire.

Legends characterize Roro Mendut not only as a moral ideal but also as a successful tobacco and cigarette saleswoman. Her tomb has traditionally been visited mainly by female traders, who expected sustained support in business matters from their pilgrimage. Its association with sex is a more recent phenomena but one that has drawn a lot of attention. In recent years, the sex ritual at Roro Mendut’s tomb has found its way into short films, novels, radio programs, television features, documentaries, and countless newspaper articles. A number of undergraduate and graduate theses (skripsi and tesis) from Indonesian universities have addressed it.

The emphasis on ritual seks has been actively suppressed since the establishment of Islamic boarding schools affiliated with Muhammadiyah near Roto Mendu. One school for girls was built in close proximity to the tomb, with another for boys located just a few kilometers away. Around these institutions, a new local economy has taken root, oriented toward the daily needs of students.

Reduction of Ritual Sex at the Tomb of Makam Roro Mendut

The tomb of Roro Mendut is or was sheltered by a small structure known as a cangkup. The site attracted both married and unmarried couples, some of whom stayed overnight, drawn by the lingering aura of devotion and longing associated with the story. For certain visitors, the tomb was not only a place of remembrance but also a place to have sex. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

In recent decades there have been efforts to restrict and end the sex. Since the 1990s, the establishment of two Islamic boarding schools affiliated with Muhammadiyah nearby has intensified calls to limit or prohibit activities at the tomb. The local juru kunci (caretaker), once responsible for maintaining the site’s rituals, has withdrawn from his duties after facing intimidation, while the surrounding community has shown reluctance to maintain infrastructure or repair earthquake damage to the .

Conflicts periodically resurface, particularly following media reports alleging that ritual seks continues to take place at the tomb. Although details remain unclear, such claims have prompted repeated attempts by unknown groups to block access to the site. These reactions align with Muhammadiyah’s doctrinal stance: while visits to graves are permitted as acts of remembrance (zikrul maut), seeking blessings or spiritual protection (minta berkah) is rejected as syirik or musyrik—a violation of strict monotheism. Within this framework, practices associated with the tomb are not merely controversial but are actively opposed as heterodox expressions of belief.

Small shops now line the area, selling school supplies, clothing, toiletries, snacks, and drinks. These businesses generate employment and steady tax revenue, creating an incentive structure that outweighs interest in maintaining the shrine itself. As a result, the earthquake-damaged tomb of Roro Mendut remains unrestored, and access roads to the site are left in disrepair. Under such conditions, local leaders (tokoh masyarakat) have largely aligned themselves with these changes. The decline of ritual sex practices at the site is not simply the outcome of religious persuasion, but also of material and economic considerations.

Gunung Kemukus — Sex Mountain

The site most widely associated with ritual seks is undoubtedly Gunung Kemukus, bettern known as Sex Mountain, an otherwise unremarkable hill located 30 kilometers north of Surakarta (Solo). It is here that Pangeran Samudro, a young prince, is said to be buried. According to local legend, he engaged in a forbidden sex with his mother or stepmother, Nyai Ontrowulan. Forced to flee, he was eventually captured and killed, but not before vowing to grant prosperity, health, and happiness to those who would follow his example by entering into similarly prohibited relationships at Gunung Kemukus. There is a shrine where the forbidden sex is believed to have taken place. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

Gunung Kemukus rituals combine Islamic, Hindu and Buddhist influences — a very Javanese blend of religious beliefs that doesn’t exist elsewhere, or at least is very rate, in the Muslim world. One of the main reasons the tradition continues in Muslim Indonesia is that brings in lots of money for locals and is strongly backed by the local government. “The Islamic religion forbids it, but they don’t want to know that,” Sex Mountain expert Professor Keontjoro Soeparno told SBS . “They’re more interested in profit, they leave religion behind.” [Source: Patrick Abboud, SBS One, November 18, 2014]

It is estimated 3.5 million people visited Genung Kemukus in 2005. Alongside pilgrims that go there to pray and people that go there to have sex with each other, sometimes with strangers. , which is supposed to bring luck as well as wealth. Based on legend above, which dates back to the 16th century, the pilgrims believe seven visits and prayers to the adulterous prince Samudro will bring good fortune Up to 8,000 people visit Sex Mountain on its busiest nights/ When they pray the pilgrims say things like: “Please grant me great financial good fortune… please give me lots of money to pay my debts...If I get lots of money, I’ll go to Mecca, that’s my ambition.” .

Similarities and Differences Between the Sex Pilgrimage Sites in Central Java

Volker Gottowik wrote: The three selected pilgrimage sites are characterized not only by similarities but also by differences. At Gunung Kemukus the local legends directly invite the pilgrims to enter into an illicit relationship (hubungan terlarang) and to act mimetically in conformity with the couple who had once lived in such a relationship at this site. At the tomb of Roro Mendut and in Parangkusumo, by contrast, the pilgrims emulate idealized love couples mimetically by having sexual relations at this site either with prostitutes, other pilgrims, or their own partners. As the legends characterize Roro Mendut not only as a moral ideal, but also as a successful tobacco and cigarette saleswoman, her tomb was mainly visited by female traders, who expected sustained support in business matters from their pilgrimage. In contrast, Parangkusumo is frequented by young couples, who meditate inside the sanctuary Puri Cepuri at so-called love stones (batu cinta) and commemorate Ratu Kidul at the so-called love beach (pantai cinta) to strengthen their own relationship. However, young love couples not only visit sacred places in Central Java that are known for exemplary relationships, in negative correspondence with this mimetic principle they also avoid places like Candi Prambanan, where Pangeran Bondowoso’s love for Roro Jonggrang failed tragically. [Source: Pilgrims, Prostitutes, and Ritual Seks by Volker Gottowik, Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences of Southeast Asia, Volume 174, Issue 4, 20 November 2018, Pages 393-421]

What the three pilgrimage sites have in common beyond all differences are mimetic patterns of conduct that follow certain exemplary love couples, as well as ritual practices to which I refer here as anti-structural and transgressive, as they are contrary to prevailing moral values and undermine the increasingly sexually hostile legislation of the Republic of Indonesia. Whether the aforementioned legends actually guide individuals’ actions in the context of ritual seks, or whether illicit sexual contacts are legitimized post-hoc by recourse to these narratives can only be decided on a case-by-case basis.

In this context, it is interesting to see that pilgrims of both sexes quite openly refer to these ritual practices. They concede that they apply these practices to absorb (menyerap) some of the spiritual power that is concentrated at these sacred sites. But in general the pilgrims follow a rather pragmatic and empirical approach: They stress that those who wish to learn more about ritual seks should practise it themselves, while emphasizing that they know people or have heard about people (a distinction between first- and second-hand information is not always drawn) who have performed the ritual and are better off today.

In addition, there are varied motives to visit these sacred sites, including an interest in ritual seks, but often also simple curiosity, excitement, and commercial interest; the latter applies to the large number of prostitutes, hawkers, and healers who visit such sites to offer their goods and services.” It is a “remarkable relationship that sexuality and spirituality (prostitution and religion) enter into at the above-mentioned pilgrimage sites.

Wessing wrote in 1997: In contrast to the petition for blessings (berkah) and the presentation of offerings (nyekar), ritual seks belongs only partly to a ‘regimen of devotions’, as every pilgrim is free to participate in this ritual exercise, and groups of pilgrims who suspend the anonymity of the individual renounce it entirely without compromising the success of their pilgrimage.

George Quinn, one of the best-known authorities on pilgrimage in Java, wrote ‘The site has become controversial for its numerous prostitutes and a regimen of devotions that requires pilgrims to engage in promiscuous sex’.

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons

Text Sources:“Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993; “Culture and Customs of Indonesia” by Jill Forshee, Greenwood Press, 2006; National Geographic, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, Indonesia Tourism website (indonesia.travel), Indonesia government websites, Live Science, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, Wikipedia, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated April 2026