Dieng Culture Festival is the largest event held annually in the
Tourism Dieng
Area, at highland
Dieng. As the name suggests is a cultural festival with the concept of synergy
between the Culture Society, Nature Dieng potential and empowerment of local
communities as the basic mission of the event.
Ritual Procession for
Dreadlocks hair is a core event. The variety of events such as; jazzatasawan,
film screenings, shadow puppets and other traditional arts, flying lanterns,
fireworks, carnival culture, as well as exhibitions of handicraft products /
creative industries and culinary of the highland Dieng.
Ritual of Dreadlocks Hair Boy
have purpose that aims to expel bad luck
of the boy and society Dieng In general.
Dieng Culture Festival was
first held in 2010. Previously, it is known as "Dieng Culture Week".
When third year, the event changed its name into Dieng Culture Festival. The
7th Dieng Culture Festival (DCF) has been held for 3 (three) days from the date
of August 5 to 7, 2016.
Fahombo, Hombo Stone or
in Indonesian "Jump Rock" is a sport traditionally Tribe
Nias . Exercise was previously a rite of passage Nias
ethnic group is a lot to do in Nias Island and become a tourist
attraction traditional strangest unique to the entire world.They must jump over
the composition of the building stones as high as 2 meters with a
thickness of 40 cm.
In the past, youth Nias will
try to jump as high stone over 2 meters, and if they succeed they akaan into
manhood and can join as soldiers to fight and get married. Since the age
of 10 years, the boy on the island of Nias will be prepared to make a turn "fahombo" them. As
a ritual, fahombo taken very seriously in the customary Nias. The
boy would jump over the rock to get the status of their maturity, with fighters
dressed in Nias, signifying that they were ready to fight and take
responsibility for adult males.
Stones to be skipped in fahombo monument
shaped like a pyramid with a flat top surface. Height not less
than 2 meters, 90 cm wide and 60 cm long. Jumpers not only have to jump
over piles of stones, but he also must have the technique for landing, because
if he landed with the wrong position can cause muscl injuries or fractures. In
the past, even a rock on a board covered with nails and stakes,
which shows how serious this ritual in the eyes of Nias Tribe. Tactical
battle, fahombo tradition also means training young warriors for
agile and nimble in jumping over the walls of their enemy's defenses, with a
torch in one hand and a sword in the evening
Come to NIAS and feel the
fahombo spirit with jump up the stone.
The Toraja are
an ethnic group indigenous to a mountainous region of South
Sulawesi, Indonesia. Their population is approximately 1,100,000, of whom
450,000 live in the regency of Tana Toraja ("Land of
Toraja").
The word toraja comes
from the Bugis Buginese language term to riaja, meaning
"people of the uplands". The Dutch colonial government named
the people Toraja in 1909. Torajans are renowned for their
elaborate funeral rites, burial sites carved into rocky cliffs, massive
peaked-roof traditional houses known as tongkonan, and colorful wood
carvings. Toraja funeral rites are important social events, usually attended by
hundreds of people and lasting for several days
Tongkonan is
the traditional ancestral house, or rumah adat of the Torajan people,
in South Sulawesi, Indonesia. Tongkonan have a
distinguishing boat-shaped and oversized saddleback roof. Like most of
Indonesia’s Austronesian-based traditional architecture tongkonan are
built on piles. The construction of tongkonan is laborious work and
it is usually built with the help of all family members. In the original Toraja
society, only nobles had the right to build tongkonan.
Kete Kesu is a
tourist village in Tana Toraja region known for its traditional life of the
community can be found in this region. There are many ancient relics such as
stone graves were estimated age of 500 years in Kete Kesu are. In the stones
graves that resemble a canoe or boat, saved the remnants of skulls and human
bones. Nearly all the tomb stones placed hanging on the cliffs or caves.
Londa is a grave of
the past were reserved for the nobility with two large caves that can be
entered by visitors and the coffin containing human skulls.
There are many
ancient tomb stones like this in Toraja. But the famous is Kete Kesu and Londa.
Toraja is known with this stone grave.
One of the unique
culture of Toraja is called Rambu Solo. Rambu Solo is a funeral procession Tana
Toraja society, who do not like funerals in general. Rambu Solo is a ritual
death of Toraja society which aims to honor and deliver the spirits of Toraja
people who died toward the spiritual realm
Ma'tinggoro tedong
(typical cutting buffalo by Toraja society, by slashing buffalo with a machete
and only with a one single slash), in
ceremony Rambu Solo.
How to get to
Toraja? Flight from Jakarta to Makassar. Then use the bus to Toraja about 8
long hours journey.
When traveling Indonesia, or
reading about the highlights of Indonesian cultures, you might find that a cow
race is what to expect to see in Madura Island, East Java, called
Karapan Sapi. That’s what I thought too, until one day a friend mentioned to me
there’s a similar race in West Sumatra, called Pacu Jawi. Taking
place in the Tanah Datar regency, Pacu Jawi race goes on for 11 months per
year, moving between subdistricts in the regency, always taking place on a
paddy field.
There are 14 subdistricts in
Tanah Datar regency, and the chosen 11 get to be the hosts of the race, each
one for 4 weekends in a row. The Pacu Jawi race we got to visit took
place in Nagari Simabur (Simabur subdistrict), just a little off Batusangkar
town, the capital of Tanah Datar regency.
It was 11.30 when we arrived
in Simabur, the racing cows had just started coming in. Some were numbered on
their bodies and some weren’t. Children were trying to poke at the cows out of
curiosity Diyan finally convinced me that I didn’t need to be scared to pet
them, and so I did. The skin was a bit furry and soft, and the cow just stood
against the fence calmly as I stroke the nape of her neck. Cows have really
soothing eyes because they’ve got long and droopy eye lashes, both the male and
female are pretty.
Food stalls and temporary
diners were built near the race arena. Talempong, the traditional
Minangnese music, was played by a group of men sitting under a tent. People,
including moi, were waiting in excitement for the race to begin. We
strolled around the arena, looking at the race preparation, talked to some
locals, checking out the knick knacks and snacks being sold. We had finished
our lunch at a stall just before the race began. Woohoo!!
Mr.Emi, the head of the
Pacu Jawi committee, advised us on a strategic spot to view the race. We took
place at the advised spot, at the corner of the finish line of the race amongst
local spectators, children and adults, all cheering for the racing cows and the
jockeys.
In Pacu Jawi, coupled cows
run along the muddy field about 20-30 meters long. Each couple is steered by a
jockey with his hands on the cows’ tails and his feet on the wooden contraption
that bind the cows together. The jockey bites one of the cows’ tip of the tail
to make it run, automatically followed by the other one. The jockey often
has to bite the tail again in the middle of the race to make the cows go
faster. Usually only a couple runs in one go, followed quickly by the next
couples. Jockeys would stretch arms and legs as wide as possible to steer and
keep the cows together. Too often they would fall in the mud and come out
of the race all muddy, reminds me of pictures of Woodstock!!
Sometimes the cows go off
the track. They run to the side and run through the audience! Sure a cow is
harmless, meaning it doesn’t actually chase or ram people around, but with a
big figure like that (I can only guess the weigh!), one should be able to fun
fast enough to avoid being hit by a cow!
The cows that run the
fastest and straight til finish line are the winners. I’m not sure what prize
the winners get, but the price of the best cows a.k.a. the winners surely go
up. A regular cow that’s bred for daily consumption costs about IDR 5-7millions
(that’s roughly US$ 500-700). But a Pacu Jawi racing cow can cost at least
twice the regular cow. There are even racing cows that can cost up to IDR
30-40 millions (about US $ 3,200-4,200).
The race was still going on
and was supposed to end at 4ish PM, but we needed to leave sooner to get to our
next destination, Harau Valley in a different regency. We only watched the race
for about 2 hours but it was definitely entertaining and heart pumping enough!
I would definitely recommend it to any of you who’s going to Sumatra on your
trip to Indonesia. Some might see it as a mad mud race in the middle of
beautiful and eye-soothing greenery, but deranged or not it’s a traditional
race that totally rocks!
Pacu Jawi is totally one of
the Indonesian traditional attractions I love, at least to date. I had been
eager to see it since a year ago when I just heard about it. I was ready to get
dirty what with the muddy field in a rainy season, though it wasn’t actually
that dirty if you weren’t the jockey. But it’s absolutely awesome! It’s
full of action, it’s very traditional, it’s rad, it’s crazy, and I gotta take
my hat off for the jockeys who are so brave and are undoubtedly fit! Would I
recommend watching Pacu Jawi when you’re traveling Indonesia? You bet I would!
