One of cultural Tourism attraction in Indonesia is a ceremony called Sedekah Merapi. In this event, thousands of people from around the slope of Merapi Mountain followed a ritual at 1 Sura or the New Hijri Year 1431 which focused on Lencoh Village, Selo, Boyolali district, Central Java, Friday (18/12) early morning. They are enthusiastically following the annual ritual ceremony, with one of the ritual is sacrificing a buffalo head and a number of offerings into the crater at the top of Mount Merapi. The ceremony is aimed to avoid the natural disasters due to the most active mountain in Indonesia.

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Merapi Mountain ceremony performed every 1st Sura with the aim to ask the God a salvation for people who live around Mount Merapi and be protected from natural disasters arising out of Mount Merapi. The ritual is a traditional cultural performed by communities around Merapi and it’s been done for generations since the time of the ancestors to the present. This is a very interesting tourism attraction in Indonesia specifically in Yogyakarta and Central Java.

People here are not likely to leave the ritual ceremony because it is merged with local custom. Therefore, every citizen who will have their own celebration usually initialed with a traditional ceremony to make offerings of food available in surround the mountains. As such, they will be given safety and agricultural products are abundant and prosperous life as a result of soil fertility from Mount Merapi.

The ritual procession that followed thousands of residents of local communities and from outside the area began with buffalos paraded around the village before it was slaughtered and sacrificed the head into the crater of Merapi.

Head of Tourism and Culture Boyolali District, Sumantri said that the buffalo head wrapped in white cloth is completed with offerings such as tumpeng gunung (cone shaped rice) made from corn, and brubus from Lumbu leaves. In addition, there is also gomok, acung-acung, Bothok sempurno with crops, klobot cigarettes (made from corn’s ear), bananas raja, kantil flowers, turmeric, egg and cash Rp100.

Meanwhile, before the head of buffalo and offerings are thrown into the crater of Merapi at 00:10 am, the people is firstly sing songs to praise and prayer (hymn) to the God to avoid disasters due to the mountain. The Buffalo’s head that will be sacrificed then taken by four men who wear traditional Javanese clothes to the crater at the peak of Merapi which is about four kilometers and will take approximately four hours. After the buffalo head is appointed to the top of the mountain, thousands of people who follow the procession are competing to get the offerings, the cone shaped rice from corn which is the typical food people on the slopes of Merapi.

The culture of this mountain ritual is aimed also to attract local tourists as well as from international to get closer to know the culture of the people living on the surrounding mountains, especially supporting the tourism point of Solo-Selo-Borobudur. Tourists who are willing to witness this ceremony are better to stay in hotels at Solo or Yogyakarta.
[ad#468x60-red] ]]> http://discover-indonesia.com/uncategorized/sedekah-merapi-a-ritual-on-the-mount/feed/ 0 http://discover-indonesia.com/events/grebek-demak-the-spiritual-attraction/ http://discover-indonesia.com/events/grebek-demak-the-spiritual-attraction/#comments Tue, 17 Nov 2009 10:37:36 +0000 deka http://discover-indonesia.com/?p=419

Soldier of Kraton photo by Victor_deka

Grebek Demak is an annual event of Demak citizens in order to welcome or celebrate Eid al-Adha. This year Grebek Demak will be held on November, 27-28 2009. The event itself was preceded by a night market in the field Jogo Tembiring Indah, Wonosalam district, Demak regency for seven days and seven nights. [ad#468x60-red] The Summit took place on the 9th of Dzulhijjah (November 27, 2009) is marked by a ceremony with offerings Nine Tumpeng (9 rice cone). Nine cone prepared in Demak regency hall at 19.00 pm, which then brought to the Grand Mosque of Demak, to be held a Selamatan ceremony.

Gunungan photo by Victor_deka

On the next day at 08.00 am at the district hall will be held ceremony to depart the Jamas oil to Kadilangu tomb which is led by the head of Demak regency who wearing Beskap (traditional uniform) escorted by Patangpuluhan soldiers. In the Kadilangu tomb is held penjamasan ceremony (purification) the heritage of Sunan Kalijaga named Kyai Cerubuk and Kotang Ontokusumo. Purification carried out by the elders man of Kadilangu who are descendants of Sunan Kalijaga. [ad#kotak336]

Javanese has various traditions, which related to rites or ceremonies. Many aspects of life of the Javanese begin with ceremonies. A ceremony seems become the initiation to start, end or avoid something. Among ceremonies, there is one, which is very important to perform. For those who believe, this ceremony will improve the quality of life. Not only will it improve the economic aspect but also health, relationship, peace, welfare and luck. The ceremony is Ruwatan.

Ruwatan comes from the old Javanese language ‘mangruwat’. The meaning is to release or set free. The ceremony is essentially to pray to the God, asking protection and prevention from all disturbances. Therefore, the interesting things are on how the rite is performed and who should be involved.

For whom is the rite?
Before we discuss how the rite is performed, we have to know firstly on who should be involved. This is important because ruwatan should be performed for persons or thing with certain condition. This rite is for persons which is in the ‘sukerta’ category. The sukerta category can be ontang-anting (a child without brother or sister), kedhana-kedhini (a son and a daughter), kembang sepasang (two daughters), sendhang kapit pancuran (two daughters and a son, in which the son is born after the first daughter), pancuran kapit sendhang (two sons and a daughter, in which the daughter is born after the first son). The persons with sukerta category or we can call them as the patients, have bad luck that should be neutralized. The goal of this ceremony is to banish the sukerta (bad luck).

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The Procession
The one who lead the ceremony is usually a person with spiritual ability. Commonly, a dalang (puppeteer of traditional Javanese shadow plays) leads the procession. The procession of ruwatan consists of four basic steps. The first is taking a bath. The patients wear pasatan (bathing cloth), the leader pours water over them. The water consists of kanthil (magnolia), mawar (rose) and melati (jasmine) flowers. The second step is hair cutting. Only a few hairs are cutted as symbol to banish the sukerta. The third is floating the pasatan and the hair to the sea. The fourth is the Javanese shadow puppet performance.

The shadow puppet performance is not merely a show but it consists of prays. It plays certain story namely Murwakala. It tells the beginning of the calamity occurs on earth. It is Batara Kala, a giant god, who asks food to Batara Guru, the king of gods. Batara Guru is afraid if Batara Kala will eat everything. Therefore, Batara Guru makes limitations on who can be eaten by Batara Kala. The human who may be eaten are those in the sukerta category. Then, Batara Kala comes down to earth to find victims. However, he gets no victim because Ki Dalang Kandhabuwana (the puppeteer) protects the people in the sukerta category.  Ki Dalang Kandhabuwana spells magic words (a prayer) to defeat and banish the evil power of Batara Kala.  The evil power is vanished, this also banish the sukerta from the patients.

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The road that I should follow is ascending. Up and up, so that my car should work harder to take me to the top. Even though it is sloping upward but it is very easy to pass through the road. The way is bending, but the view is beautiful. Finally, I arrive at the gate with a written mark “Dieng Plateau Area”.

Dieng is about 2000 meters above sea level. It is on Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java. Being on the higher ground, the place has cold temperature. The temperature is about 15-20 Celsius at the day and 10-Celsius degree at night. It sometime falls to zero Celsius degree at the morning on July to August. When the coldest temperature comes, the people say it as ‘bun upas’ (poisonous dew). They call it so because the dew will smash up their crop.

Photo by Yustha Titik

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The things that I can see there are temples, craters and lakes. The names for the craters are Kawah Sikidang, Kawah Sinila and Kawah Sileri. While the lakes’ names are Telaga Warna and Sumur Jalatunda.

There are many Hindus temples which names taken from characters of the wayang (shadow puppet). The names are Candi Setyaki, Candi Petruk, Candi Antareja, Candi Nakula-Sadewa, Candi Nala Gareng, Candi Gatut Kaca, Candi Bima, Candi Dwarawati, Candi Arjuna, Candi Srikandi, Candi Puntadewa, Candi Sembadra and many more. Only several temples are standing still like Candi Arjuna, Candi Srikandi, Candi Puntadewa, Candi Sembadra, Candi Dwarawati and Candi Gatut Kaca. The other temples are only ruins.

Dieng comes from the ancient Java Language ‘Di’ and ‘Hyang’. Di means a place or mountain, Hyang means God or ancestor. Therefore, the meaning is ‘the place for the God and the spirit of the ancestor is on the mountain.’ From its name, researchers assume that the reason of building temples on the plateau is to get closer to the worshiped. The ancient Javanese Hindu built the temples on the 7th century. The evidence is written on the ancient stone inscription, 731 saka (809 A.D.).

Here, I want to write and tell everybody one of my tourism courses during my holiday. The place that I’m visiting is Baturaden at Banyumas regency, Central Java. The place is called Loka Wisata Baturaden. Loka means a place or location, wisata means tour.

For me, the place offers standard attractions like waterfall, river, swimming pool and fresh air. The waterfall is about 150 meters high. The water is falling and flowing through the rocks that become a path. It’s flowing and hitting rocks, creating the sound of “tranquility”. Like I told before, the place is offering standard attraction but it gives great atmosphere. That is the thing that’s difficult to find.

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Being tired of playing in the river, I want something to eat. Luckily, there are many food stalls at the place so that I can find food easily. I won’t be starved during my course at this tourism place. However, I want something specific to the place. After a while looking for the special food, my choice falls to mendoan. Mendoan is the original snack of Banyumas. It is made from fermented soybean. The size is about 15×10 cm. The mendoan is smeared with wheat flour and fried. It’s delicious when hot. Spicy sauce is provided to make it tastier. It’s cheap but tasty and healthy.

After the appetizer, I smell something good. Following the smell, I am coming to a stall that sells rabbit setae. Small pieces of rabbit meat are roasted on skewer. The smell flies to all direction attracting people to buy. Behind the good smell, it has good taste. The meat is well roasted, but not scorched. The meat is so smooth, my teeth are easily masticate it. The flavor is well absorbed, my tongue tastes the delicious flavor. Those foods are making my tourism course more unforgettable.

Calung is usually played on special occasion like at the wedding anniversary, a boy’s circumcision celebration, and other anniversary. Dancers called Lengger (girl dancers) dancing along with the music of calung.

Lucky me, there is a calung festival (a competition actually) when I visit Baturaden. Groups of calung players are competing to perform the best. They show their best performance, uniform, music arrangement and choreography. Each group consists of several musicians who play calung, angklung, percussion, and bamboo flute. No electric music instrument is played on the competition, all we hear is acoustic sounds. Four or more dancers are dancing along with the music. The musicians are singing songs in Javanese language with Banyumas dialect.
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The instruments used are all hand made. Usually, each group has an expert who makes, tunes and repairs the instrument. Calung, angklung and flute are made from bamboo; it is from bamboo Wulung, the best kind of bamboo for music instrument. The percussion is made from big plastic barrel and tire for the membrane.

It is so merry. The music is inviting the audiences to dance or just nodding the head. I just wonder how popular those instruments at the past.

This tourism destination is on the slope of Mount Slamet. For people from the tropical country, its temperature is cold enough, about 18° Celsius – 25° Celsius. Going there on the rainy season is a bad decision, the best is on the dry season so that we can explore the jungle or climb Mount Slamet.

Photo Credit: Deka

The entry ticket is IDR7,500 for domestic visitor and IDR15,000 for the foreign visitors. Here, tourist may enjoy the hot spring water, Sarabadak Cave, Mountain View and enjoy the fresh air.
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Photo Credit: Deka

Since the water is sulphuric, many people use it to cure skin problems. The people usually take a bath at the waterfall or just immersing their feet in the pool. The yellow color is caused by the sulfur that remains on the stone. The water’s temperature is about 60° Celcius, hot but its really fun to immerse our feet. It seems that the water relax the nerves. When we are tired, we can pay a massager to massage our body for about IDR15,000.

Photo Credit: Deka

Accommodation

There are many hotels at Baturaden from the lowest price to the higher. When I was there, I booked Madurodam Hotel. The price is starting from IDR150.000 per night, it vary depends on the room. Small but clean, good food and I can sleep well.

Photo Credit: Deka

To get there

It is very easy to get to Pancuran Pitu. A tourist can take a bus or a train to Purwokerto. From Purwokerto find bus to Baturaden for about IDR10,000.

Candi Gedhong Sanga or Gedong Songo is a group of Hindu temples. Gedhong means building and Sanga means nine. There are nine temples in the location. This temples lies on the slope of Mount Ungaran about 1,300 meter above the sea, precisely on Desa Candi, Kecamatan Ambarawa, Kabupaten Semarang, Jawa Tengah, Indonesia.

Higher place is ideally for Hindus to build a temple to pray.  The temple was built on the 9th century; it is believed the Syailendra Dynasti built it. It was found by Rafles (a Dutch officer) on 1804.

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To get to the temple from the foot-hill, there are horses for rent, so that you won’t be tired. But for those who love adventure, walking up to the hill is really fun. Enjoy the Mountain View and the fresh air along the way up.

Near to Gedong Sanga complex, there is a hot water spring. The water contains sulfur so that many people use it to cure skins problem like skin fungus, eczema, etc. Take bath in the hot water pool will relax the nerves.

From Semarang, the Gedhong Sanga temple is about 45 km, about an hour driving. There is a lot of transportation to the location.

Diving
The main attraction on Karimunjawa Islands is the show of the beautiful underwater world. The underwater world has 274 colorful fish species and 133 interesting genera of aquatic fauna. It just becomes a new alternative of diving in Indonesia. Although all islands have beautiful view, but Tengah and Sintok islands are the most attractive.

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Dive Wreck
At Kemojan Island, the divers can fulfill their diving holidays by observing a ship wreck, Indonoor, a Dutch coal carrier ship drowned on 1947. The dive wreck is giving a new experience which may not be found anywhere else. It’s just the perfect house of fishes like Butterfly fish and Napoleon and also the perfect habitat for corals. Since the local fishermen believe the place is eerie, fishes at the wreck are bigger than those at the other location.

Snorkeling and other
Due to good water visibility, snorkeling is also possible to work on. For those who have no courage to dive, snorkeling is the best solution. Besides snorkeling, visitors may also watch shark and sea turtles in a pool at Menjangan Island.

How to get there?
To get to Karimunjawa, ther are two possibilities. The first is by plane from Ahmad Yani Airport Semarang to Dewa Daru Airport Karimunjawa, this will take less than one hour. The second is by ship from Tanjung Muria Jepara. The speed boat will take you about 4 hours while the economy ferry will take about 6 hours.

Where to stay?
Don’t be afraid, there are so many homestays and hotels, just choose the cheap or expensive one.