The custom of having sex with strangers on a sacred mountain in Indonesia

During the Pon festival, each person will find a stranger to pair up with and have sex continuously 7 times during the 35 days of the ritual.

Pon is one of the world's strangest festivals, held seven times a year by a tribe on the island of Java, Indonesia. During this time, thousands of tourists and pilgrims gather at a temple on the sacred mountain Gunung Kemukus to perform a sexual ritual.

Participants must soak and bathe in the spring water to purify their bodies, then each person finds a stranger to pair up with. The couple will have sex on the night of the ceremony, and the partner cannot be the spouse.

Sacred mountain Gunung Kemukus on Java island. Photo: Teknology.

To receive good luck and blessings from the gods, they need to have sex with the same person seven times in a row. Therefore, they will exchange phone numbers and addresses to complete the ritual that lasts for 35 days. Most of the participants are business owners or entrepreneurs. They believe that if they do it enough, their business will become more and more prosperous and successful.

Because of this strange custom, Gunung Kemukus is also known as “the hill of sex” with the center being the mosque located on the top of the mountain. Here, men and women from different professions, regardless of marital status, can participate to pray for luck and money.

Crowds flock to Mount Kemukus on festival day. Photo: Shopswindow.

SBS Dateline journalist Patrick Abboud, who witnessed the festival, could not contain his surprise that such a ritual existed in a Muslim country like Indonesia, where adultery is considered taboo. According to him, the Pon festival was born based on a legend from the 16th century. At that time, a young Indonesian prince had a relationship with his stepmother. They ran away to the mountains and were discovered and killed while doing "that" right on the top of Gunung Kemukus. Since then, the people of Java island believed that if they completed this act, money and luck would come to them.

During the festival, people from all over Indonesia flock here to see if they can change their luck. However, they often do not easily share the story, because this is essentially an act of adultery, extramarital relations and contrary to Islamic norms.

“You won’t see this ritual anywhere else in Indonesia or the rest of the Muslim world. At peak times, the hill gathers up to 8,000 people a night,” Abboud said.

In addition, this festival also poses many dangers to human health and sexually transmitted diseases. According to Professor Keontjoro Soeparno, a sociologist from Gadjah Mada University in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, more than half of the women who make the pilgrimage to Mount Kemukus are prostitutes.

“Because the ritual lasts for 35 days, it has become a lucrative business, leading to the proliferation of karaoke bars and disguised motels. Profits have overshadowed religious values,” he said. “However, devout believers still maintain their faith in the festival. However, they should be careful of unforeseen dangers. They can absolutely happen.”

According to VNE