ABSTRACT
This chapter delves into the dynamics of eventisation in the Temanggung highlands. Unlike the revival of specific Javanese rites of passage, other events appeared in the region that aimed explicitly at creating hybrid festivals celebrating culture as such, more or less mobilising Buddhism as a defining feature. The first part of the chapter deals with the organisation of Nyadran festivals. Drawing from the long tradition of funerary communal feasts from the Javanese tradition, Nyadran in Surjosari is reconfigured as a yearly multi-day festival, open not only to the residents of the wider district but also to paying tourists. In the second part of the chapter, the focus is shifted to the Java Connection festival, a one-off music event dedicated to Javanese Buddhism as a form of “living heritage”.
