Friday, December 5, 2008

Bersih Desa

Bicara soal tradisi, Indonesia memang gudangnya. Suku yang ribuan jumlahnya mempunyai tradisi masing-masing yang berbeda.
Aku tinggal di Jawa Tengah. Dari yang kuketahui, bahkan di Jawa sendiri, masing masing daerah punya tradisi yang berbeda.
Speaking about traditions, Indonesia is the place. Thousands ethnics live here, and each has its own traditions.
I live in Central Java. I have learned, that even in Java, every place has their own traditions.

Bersih Desa adalah satu tradisi di kampung tempat kami tinggal. Acara ini diselenggarakan dalam rangka bersyukur pada Tuhan atas segala yang telah diberikannya. Yang harus dicatat, ini bukan acara keagamaan, tapi benar-benar tradisi Jawa.
Bersih Desa is one of the treaditions in the village we live in. This occasion is held as one way to thank God for all His blesses. One thing is important, this is not a religion thing, this is purely Javanese tradition.



Acara ini diadakan setahun sekali, pada waktu-waktu di antara bulan kalender Jawa, Syawal dan Besar. Tahun ini diadakan tanggal 22 Nopember kemarin. Puncak acara adalah pertunjukan wayang kulit semalam suntuk. Lakon untuk kali ini adalah 'Arjuna Syukur'
We do Bersih Desa every year in times between Javanese months Syawal and Besar. This year it was held on last 22 November. The biggest event in Bersih Desa is wayang kulit all night show. This time the story was "Arjuna Thank God"
Wayang kulit is a Javanese Traditional puppets show. The puppets are made of bull's leather, and played by an artist called 'dalang'. The performance can not be separated with the javanese orchestra, gamelan. It has hundreds parts of stories, which all are fragments of whole story Mahabharata. The story is always about the battle between good (represented by the Pandawa family) and bad (represented by the Kurawa family). And of course, the good always wins.

Aku sih suka nonton wayang. Ngerti juga bahasanya. Cuma ngga tahan ngantuknya, semalam suntuk gitu lho...
I enjoy watching wayang. I also understand although the story is told in Javanese. But I can't stand to stay awake all night long...

Jadi kami sekeluarga cuma nonton pembukaannya, yang isinya cuma omong-omong di dalam istana. Padahal yang seru itu sebenernya 'goro-goro', yaitu ketika para punakawan beraksi, dan saat-saat terakhir di dini hari ketika tiba saatnya perang. Kalo dalangnya pinter... wayangnya bisa lompat dan jungkir balik berakrobat, asyik banget...
So I and Dan took the children to the show just to see the beginning part. The best parts were usually played at mid night, 'goro-goro', it's when the punakawan (some kind of clowns) perform and entertain us with jokes; and at dawn when the battle began. If the dalang is expert, the wayang will jump and roll like doing acrobats... so cool..

Ngga papa lah, yang penting anak-anak bisa kenal, kita punya kesenian tradisional yang hebat...
It's OK, at least I can show my children, that in this modern life we're living, there still is a great traditional culture we try to maintain...


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for this week's sundayscribblings prompt, tradition










and photo story Friday

PhotoStory Friday
Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

12 comments:

Are You Serious! said...

♥ Traditions are such a wonderful thing! :)

"Sunshine" said...

Thank you for a look into a tradition from where you live. You're right, modernized society does tend to forget cultural traditions. Interesting post.

Heather said...

I totally loved reading this!

Heather said...

It is so fun to here about traditions from other countries. This sounds like quite a special day.

tiarastantrums said...

yes, great to maintain traditions

linda may said...

Thanks for a peek into your traditional culture. Good stuff.

*~sis~* said...

what fun to hear about your family traditions :)

Rambler said...

hey thanks for the translations..its really good to know about Indonesian traditions

Laura Jayne said...

What a wonderful thing to share this. The traditions that hold a culture together are fascinating.

JenEverAfter said...

That was really great! What a wonderful telling of a wonderful tradition!

Tammy Brierly said...

Cultural traditions are a wonderful gift to give your children. Nice to meet you!

Carrie and Troy Keiser said...

Thanks for sharing this part of your culture. It is always interesting to learn new things.