Villagers use sarongs to catch offerings thrown by Hindu worshipers into the crater of Mount Bromo
Standing inside a live volcano hoping to catch a chicken or some vegetables for some might be the height of stupidity. For these people on the Indonesian island of Java it serves as a way to provide food for their families despite the incredible danger
The Hindu festival of Yadnya Kasada is the main festival of the Tenggerese people in Probolinggo, East Java. The festival lasts about a month but on the fourteenth day, the Tenggerese make the journey to the volcano of Mount Bromo to make offerings of rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers and livestock to the mountain gods by throwing them into the volcano's caldera
However, local people climb down into the crater and try to catch the offerings thrown into the volcano.
Here a villager tries to catch a bufallo head and skin offering
The origin of the festival lies in the 15th century when a princess named Roro Anteng started the principality of Tengger with her husband Joko Seger,
and the childless couple asked the mountain Gods for help in bearing children
The legend says the Gods granted them 24 children but on the provision that the 25th must be tossed into the volcano in sacrifice
The 25th child, Kesuma, was finally sacrificed in this way after initial refusal, and the tradition of throwing sacrifices into the caldera to
appease the mountain Gods continues today
Mount Bromo is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java, Indonesia. At 2,329 metres (7,641 ft)
it is not the highest peak of the massif, but is the most well known
Tenggerese prophets pray at a temple during the Yadnya Kasada festival
