For this selamatan, the villagers have set up an altar with the head of a reog, a mythical lion-like creature. The purpose of this event is to cleanse the village of evil spirits.So we can see that selamatan extends across a wide scope of ritual settings—some more overtly Islamic and others more in line with the Javanese variant of Islam, in which some Hindu or animistic traditions are included.The name for slametan comes from the Javanese word “slamet,” or peace, which itself is derived from Arabic (hence the common Islamic greeting: “Assalam alaikum”).As seen in the slides here, the guests typically sit on mats on the floor around a feast of food.Traditionally, the person hosting the slametan makes a speech to announce the reason for the event, and to request that the ancestor spirits or other divine beings support the undertaking with slamet or wellbeing. The speaker uses a very formal style of Javanese. After the speech, someone present who sufficiently knows Arabic will then lead the group in a prayer.At intervals in this prayer, the audience will give their assent by murmuring “amen” (acknowledgement).Men are formally the guests, but women will prepare the food. The host does not eat.Each guest eats some of the food presented to them with a banana leaf, and then the they will leave after around 15 minutes and take the rest of the food home to be shared with their families.Whenever someone announces a slametan, everyone who lives nearby the host’s house is expected to stop whatever they are doing and attend the slametan.