Sanghyang Jaran, The Balinese Dance

Sanghyang Jaran dance is a kind of trance dance in which the entranced dancers imitate the movement of soldier on horseback. It is said that in Sanghyang Jaran dance, the dancers are possessed by ancestral deity, a Gandarwa (celestial soldier) on horseback. The dancers for this sacred dance are usually the Pemangku (temple priest) or a group of chosen men, that are put into trance with wafted of incense and chorus of Sanghyang song. In the state of trance the dancer fall, convulsed to the ground and rush to grab hobby horses. During the pre-trance chanting, coconut shells have been lit, leaving red hot coals.