The Baritan Ceremony can be found especially in the villages of Pondok Rangon and Kampung Setu, East Jakarta. The word Baritan comes from the word Baraka, which in the Betawi’s utterances becomes Berkah, which means God’s blessings.
The Baritan ceremony, which is also called Bebarit and by several other names such as Sedekah Bumi, Hajat Bumi, and Bersih Kampung, is conducted as a gratitude to the blessings of abundant crops similar to Thanksgiving in the US. The abundance is expressed in various forms of offerings, in the form of food, drinks, fruits, entertainment, ritual feast and tahlilan (prayers) and burying four buffalo’s heads (or more commonly goats’ heads nowadays due to economics reason) at the four corners of Kampung Pondok Rangon (Pondok Rangon village).
Baritan is held every year (in the past after harvest) on Hari Raya Agung which falls on the 10th day of the month of Hajj. In some villages, it is held in the month of Sya’ban or Rowah before the coming of Ramadan. The ceremony was centered at the Keramat Ganceng area and was led by the kuncen (caretaker) of Keramat Ganceng.
The ritual consists of four stages. First, the preparation, to prepare budget, costs, number of invitees, etc. The second stage is the performance and the ceremony itself, which is centered at Keramat Ganceng. The main events is tahlilan (prayer) followed by feast. In the aftermoon before the ceremony, invitees usually delivers sajen (offering) in the form of various foods, drinks, and fruits, and other things which are harvested in the area. The third stage is Ngarak, which is the procession of buffalo’s or goat’s heads to be buried at the four corners of the village, including burying at Keramat Bambu Ampel. The fourth stage is entertainment, in the forms of kliningan kanji, ibing sawer, wayang kulit and layar tancep (outdoor movie screen).