Spiritual watchman of erupting Merapi staying put, says no danger
Excerpt from thejakartapost.com
MOUNT MERAPI, Central Java (AP): As thousands of people flee Indonesia’s erupting Mount Merapi, the 80-year-old man entrusted by Javanese royalty to watch over the volcano’s spirits is going nowhere — and insists the mountain is safe.
“There is no risk,” Maridjan said outside his home just six kilometers from the crater, which was billowing ash and searing hot gas clouds Monday. “I am still waiting here.”
…He leads yearly ceremonies when rice and flowers are thrown into the crater to appease spirits that he and most other nearby villagers believe live over the mountain, which rises from the heart of Indonesia’s mystical island of Java.
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