Javanese wayang golek or rod puppets are carved from soft wood, with necks that can swivel and bodies clad in long cotton sarongs. Their headdresses, costumes and colours can indicate the puppets’ characters. White means purity, virtue and moral integrity and is often the face colour of princes. Red means aggressiveness and anger, while blue and green faces mean cowardliness and hypocrisy. They are operated from below the stage by a central rod and by rods connected to the puppets’ hands. The puppeteer directs the performance and speaks all the roles. Behind him sit female singers and a gamelan orchestra.

Dating back to the 16th century, the plays they performed were based on Javanese folklore or stories from the Mahabharata or the Ramayana, ancient Indian epic stories featuring the struggle between good and evil, with good figures on the left of the puppeteer or dalang, and the evil on his left.

Hanuman the monkey god and son of the wind god is an important character in the Ramayana, and a loyal and devoted servant of Rama. His search for the heroine Sita, captured by Ravana, illustrates his superhuman powers and zealous performance of the tasks assigned to him. He is normally represented with a monkey’s face on a strong human body, and a tail.