Editing Mount Merapi (section)

==Mythology==
[[File:Blethrow merapi1.jpg|thumb|Merapi in July 2005. The constant smoke from its summit is said to come from two sacred armourers living under the mountain.]]
Merapi is very important to the [[Javanese people]], especially those living around its crater. As such, there are many myths and beliefs attached to Merapi.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Troll|first1=Valentin R.|last2=Deegan|first2=Frances M.|last3=Seraphine|first3=Nadhirah|date=May 2021|title=Ancient oral tradition in Central Java warns of volcano–earthquake interaction|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/gto.12350|journal=Geology Today|language=en|volume=37|issue=3|pages=100–109|doi=10.1111/gto.12350|bibcode=2021GeolT..37..100T|s2cid=236573835|issn=0266-6979|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

===Creation===
{{self-contradictory|date=November 2022}}
Although most nearby villages have their own myths about the creation of Mount Merapi, they have numerous commonalities.
It is believed that when the gods had just created the Earth, [[Java]] was unbalanced because of the placement of Mount Jamurdipo on the west end of the island. In order to assure balance, the gods (generally represented by [[Batara Guru]]) ordered the mountain to be moved to the centre of Java. However, two armourers, Empu Rama and Empu Permadi, were already forging a sacred [[keris]] at the site where Mount Jamurdipo was to be moved. The gods warned them that they would be moving a mountain there, and that they should leave; Empu Rama and Empu Permadi ignored that warning. In anger, the gods buried Empu Rama and Empu Permadi under Mount Jamurdipo; their spirits later became the rulers of all mystical beings in the area. In memory of them, Mount Jamurdipo was later renamed Mount Merapi, which means "fire of Rama and Permadi."<ref name="Triyoga">{{cite book|title=Merapi dan Orang Jawa: Persepsi dan Kepercayaannya|last=Triyoga|first=Lucas Sasongko|year=2010|publisher=Gramedia Widiasarana Indonesia|location=Jakarta|language=id|pages=50–52}}</ref>    {{better source needed|date=November 2022}}

===Spirit ''Kraton'' of Merapi===
The Javanese believe that the Earth is not only populated by human beings, but also by spirits (''makhluk halus''). Villages near Merapi believe that one of the palaces (in [[Javanese language|Javanese]] ''[[Kraton (Indonesia)|kraton]]'') used by the rulers of the spirit kingdom lies inside Merapi, ruled by Empu Rama and Empu Permadi. This palace is said to be a spiritual counterpart to the [[Yogyakarta Sultanate]], complete with roads, soldiers, princes, vehicles, and domesticated animals.
Besides the rulers, the palace is said to also be populated by the spirits of [[ancestor]]s who died as righteous people. The spirits of these ancestors are said to live in the palace as royal servants (''abdi dalem''), occasionally visiting their descendants in dreams to give [[Prophecy|prophecies]] or warnings.<ref name="Triyoga1">{{cite book|title=Merapi dan Orang Jawa: Persepsi dan Kepercayaannya|last=Triyoga|first=Lucas Sasongko|year=2010|publisher=Gramedia Widiasarana Indonesia|location=Jakarta|language=id|pages=56–60}}</ref>

===Spirits of Merapi===
To keep the volcano quiet and to appease the spirits of the mountain, the Javanese regularly take offerings on the anniversary of the sultan of Yogyakarta's coronation.<ref>{{cite book|publisher=Ministry of Culture and Tourism|title=Mount Tourism&nbsp;– Mount Merapi|year=2008}}</ref> For the Yogyakarta Sultanate, Merapi holds a significant cosmological symbolism, because it forms a sacred north–south axis line between Merapi's peak and the [[Indian Ocean]], referred by locals as the Southern Ocean. The sacred axis is signified by Merapi peak in the north, the [[Tugu Yogyakarta]] monument near Yogyakarta main train station, the axis runs along [[Malioboro]] street to Northern Alun-alun (square) across [[Keraton]] Yogyakarta (sultan's palace), Southern Alun-alun, all the way to Bantul and finally reaching Samas and Parangkusumo beach on the estuary of Opak river and the Indian Ocean.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Troll|first1=Valentin R.|last2=Deegan|first2=Frances M.|last3=Jolis|first3=Ester M.|last4=Budd|first4=David A.|last5=Dahren|first5=Börje|last6=Schwarzkopf|first6=Lothar M.|year=2015|title=Ancient Oral Tradition Describes Volcano–Earthquake Interaction at Merapi Volcano, Indonesia|url=https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geoa.12099|journal=Geografiska Annaler: Series A, Physical Geography|language=en|volume=97|issue=1|pages=137–166|doi=10.1111/geoa.12099|bibcode=2015GeAnA..97..137T|s2cid=129186824|issn=1468-0459|access-date=3 November 2020|archive-date=10 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510035139/https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/geoa.12099|url-status=live|url-access=subscription}}</ref> This sacred axis connected the [[hyang]]s or spirits of mountain revered since ancient times—often identified as "Mbah Petruk" by Javanese people—The Sultan of Yogyakarta as the leader of the Javanese kingdom, and [[Nyi Roro Kidul]] as the queen of the Southern Ocean, the female ocean deity revered by Javanese people and also mythical consort of Javanese kings.<ref>Triyoga, Lucas Sasongko (1991) Manusia Jawa dan gunung merapi : persepsi dan kepercayaannya Yogyakarta : Gadjah Mada University Press. {{ISBN|979-420-211-8}}, see also Khairuddin, H. (1995) Filsafat Kota Yogyakarta {{ISBN|979-499-180-5}} page 58 (in Indonesian) – Gunung Merapi sebagai terminal akhir dalam proses ''Sumbu Imajiner'' diyakini pula sebagai ''Surga pangratunan'', yang berasal dari kata ''antu'', yang artinya menanti, yakni menanti sevelum roh diinjinkan masuk surga, yaitu kembali kepada Sang Pencipta.</ref>