Finding out 

20 meanings of batik motifs

Batik is not only beautiful and meaningful handicraft of cultural heritage, it is also an expression of feelings and thought of the designers, when they are sad, grieving or happy. Here are 20 batik motifs and the hidden meanings.

The motif of Scattered Rice batik. It is worn by married people with a hope that their marriage brings prosperity to the family with abundant rice even spilling over.

The motif of Morning and Afternoon batik. In the past time, noble people had more than one batik, while common people only had one. Then it pushed common people for an idea to design a piece of batik with two different colors, lighter and darker. Darker motif was worn in the afternoon, while the brighter one was worn at the day time.

The motif of Farmer's batik. Its motif tends to be more open and has many variety such as flowers, birds, fruit, trees, crops and so on. Those objects are commonly found in the rice fields.

The motif of Three Countries batik. Why is it called three countries? Because this batik motif was made in Solo, the red coloring process was done in Lasem and the blue coloring process was done in Pekalongan. Each illustrated the combination of colors and patterns of each region.

The motif of Gringsing and Tambal batik. The word 'gringsing' came from 'Gering Sumingkir', having a meaning that people who are sick will have speedy recovery, their sickness will immediately disappear. The same with Gringsing, the 'Tambal' motif means patching, giving strength and healing. Such motif is commonly worn by sick people.

The motif of Madu Bronto batik. ‘Madu’ means honey symbolizing sweet and 'Bronto' means happy symbolizing pleasure. This batik is usually worn by people who are in love.

The motif of Kawung Picis batik. Everyone has sense of animal lust however by wearing such motif, people are always reminded to be able to resist lust.

The motif of Sekar Jagad batik. ‘Sekar’ means flower, ‘jagad’ means the world. This batik describes beauty, so those who are wearing it may be the most beautiful in the world.

The motif of Boats batik. This batik shows the ecosystem and interactions that occur in the sea. So that there are pictures of ships and several types of marine organism as the motifs.

The motif of Tirta Teja batik. ‘Tirta’ means water and ‘Teja’ means light. By wearing this batik, those who work, travel or migrate, are expected to be more adaptive at the new places and able to give enlightment to the surrounding.

The motif of Parang Klitik batik. This motif means waves that hit the reefs. It is like a person's spirit to solve problems, which is like waves hitting the reefs.

The motif of Pisang Bali batik. This words of the motif come from ‘pisang or pisan’ means once,  and ‘bali’ means return. So, it reminded people that life is only once, and someday they will return to God the Almighty.

The motif of Semen Rejo batik. The word ‘semen’ means sprouts and ‘reja’ means prosper. By wearing this motif, people will have a hope and prosperous life wherever they are.

The motif of Semen Gurdo batik. The word ‘semen’ means sprouts and ‘gurda’ means eagle. By wearing this motif, people will have a new hope and have power in the future.

The motif of Truntum and Sidoluhur batik. These two types of batik are used as gifts to propose marrige. If a man wants to marry his beloved girl, he has to come to the girl's house with these batik motifs. Within one week the girl and her mother would come to the man's house. If they wear the batik he  brought, it means that the proposal is accepted, but if they do not, the proposal is rejected.

The motif of Sidomukti batik. ‘Sido’ means exactly happen, and ‘mukti’ means noble and prosperous. The name of batik preceeded by ‘sido’, contains a hope or dreams that may be achieved.  Sidomukti motif shows an expectation of happiness balance both spiritual and physical. The similar motif with the same expectation is Sidoluhur, a hope to get a higher position than before. (https://batik-tulis.com/blog/batik-sidomukti/.

The motif of Kawung Beton batik. Actually there are several meanings for this batik motifs. Two of them are perfect self-control and a clean heart without any desire to be arrogant.

(https://www.pemoeda.co.id/blog/batik-kawung)

The motif of Parang Rusak Seling Nitik batik. It shows the nobility of a king. In ancient times only Sultan was allowed to wear it. However, by filling space between the patterns with dots or ‘Seling Nitik’, common people may also wear it. Since Sultan Hamengkubuwono the 7^th, this batik motif can be worn generally without exception.

The motif of Udan Liris batik. ‘Udan’ means rain and ‘liris’ means drizzle, which symbolize fertility, well-being, and grace from God. (https://infobatik.id/makna-motif-batik-udan-liris)

The motif of Wahyu Tumurun batik. It describes a hope to get guidance, blessings, mercy, and abundant grace from God the Almighty, to have success in achieving goals, position or rank. (https://infobatik.id/keunikan-makna-filosofi-batik-klasik-motif-wahyu-tumurun/). (SAP)