The third highest of Indonesia’s 129 active volcanoes, Mount Rinjani raises 3,726 meters above sea level on Lombok Island. This tourists destination is surrounded by national park that of course will bring you into the refreshness.

Rinjani is characterized by lush rain-forest clinging to its slopes, and a huge caldera. Today, the crater lake thought to be 2,000 meters deep. Trekking to the rim is a great way to get an overview of the island, but it’s not without risk. Trekking is suggested for groups, not individual exploration. The volcano from time to time spits out plumes of ash and lava.

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/uncategorized/the-indonesian-presidential-election-is-coming/ http://discover-indonesia.com/uncategorized/the-indonesian-presidential-election-is-coming/#comments Tue, 07 Jul 2009 06:13:32 +0000 deka http://discover-indonesia.com/?p=173

The Indonesian people will have a new president. The presidential election will be held on Wednesday, July 8, 2009. It’s becoming a big day where the people decide the destiny of this country.

There are three candidates for President that is Megawati Sukarno Putri, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), and Mohamad Jusuf Kala (JK). Each candidate has gave their vision and programes during their campaign. The best one is that get biggest vote.

For vice president, Mega chooses Prabowo Subiakto (formerly the Commander of Indonesian Special Force/KOPASUS). SBY chooses Budiono (formerly the Chief of Bank Indonesia), while JK chooses Wiranto (formerly the Indonesian Forces Commander).

See the next video.

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For some of the Indonesian, river is an important aspect in their life. It is not just a pathway for water, but it can be the pathway of life. Many activities can be done on the river from just washing, take a bath to activities like buying, selling and spiritual rites.

Today, many rivers in the big cities of Indonesia are full of dirt. Big cities with population problem like Jakarta, has made the people less care about the environment. Take an example of Ciliwung river at Jakarta, it is full of garbage, smell not good and the color of the water is dark brown. The economic condition has insisted the people to use the water for bathing, tooth brushing, dish washing and even cooking.

Ciliwung River photo is taken from pu.go.id
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Now let us take a look on rivers in the rural areas. Rural areas of Indonesia are commonly have better environment. The rivers are clean from garbage, the water is more proper for bathing and other activities than those of the big cities’. The villagers are commonly have well, but they love to do things on the rivers. River is not merely for washing, bathing, cleanse cattles or make something wet, it is a place for interacting with other people. In addition, people at Kuin-Barito, South Kalimantan, make the river as a market. Selling and buying are done on boats.

One more interesting thing that people do on river is spiritual rite. Some people use river to do a dip for a night long. This activity is basiccaly to test their motivation, emotion, believe and physical strength. People who do such thing are those who has certain believe and the rite is a way to achieve a goal. Nowadays, only few people do that.

The most important is we have to care about our environment. Water and air are the most important aspect of human’s life. Let’s start from our surrounding to save the planet.