Like many Muslims throughout the world, pondok students pray to Mecca five times a day.Prayer itself can be described as a very ritualistic activity, since it involves strictly prescribed, repetitive actions. When one prays, one is understood to be communicating directly to God. That is why one faces Mecca; that is where the Ka’aba, the symbolic center of Islam, is located.In addition to percussion performance and quranic recitation, martial arts are often taught as well.The variety known as pencak silat has a very long history in Indonesia. It was known in the Majahapahit era and earlier—centuries before the arrival of Islam. But it is now part of Islamic Indonesian life. The Wali Songo made use of pencak silat in demonstrating their superior powers over the old religion.In some cases, pencak silat as practiced nowadays has strong overtones of magic, and psychic or spiritual warfare that does not even necessitate physical contact. Traditionally, it enabled one to control invisible spiritual powers to defeat enemies.This is an example of how animistic tradition (adat) has continued in the Islamic setting.In villages, one may see silat practiced at night. Two opponents may fight each other from a distance, psychically wrestling until one can no longer withstand, and falls.In this sense, silat involves a similar mindset as activities connected with the keris, which is seen as having a power of its own and an ability to move on its own.To master silat, one must follow a regimen of strict training, and traditionally also show reverence to the guiding spirits of one’s teacher’s lineage.The concept of honoring the spirits, ancestors, or more generally God, brings us to the central (most important) ritual activity of Javanese culture: “slametan.”This word means a communal feast, in which an important event is commemorated, such as birth, circumcision, death, moving into a new house, an Islamic holiday, the spiritual cleaning of a village, recovery from illness, counteracting evil forces, wishing good fortune on a journey, and so on.