A shaman chants a mantra, using the ancient ‘Tanah language’ of the Moluccas. Suddenly, he stopped and shouted the word “Gila!” - meaning "Crazy!" - and thus the ritual that has been practiced for centuries was set off.

The history as to when the ritual was first performed is unclear. It seems it had been widespread in the Moluccas before Islam and Christianity arrived in the ‘Spice Islands’.  Today, only a small number of villages continue to perform the ritual as has been passed on to them through generations.

Every “crazy bamboo” ritual ends the same way: the participants collapse onto the ground, the drumming of the tifa stops, the bamboo returns to “sanity” and lies quietly on the ground.

TEXT: Ramona Sofianne Dewi, Bonardo Maulana W. | PHOTOS: Courtesy of Mikhail Tsyganov (RIA Novosti)