A Javanese Wedding Ceremony

A wedding is celebrated with some kind of ceremony almost everywhere in the world. The ceremonies vary greatly among different nations and different religions. But whatever the form of a marriage ceremony, it serves the important purpose of announcing to the community that a man and a women have been joined in matrimony.

In every culture a wedding is always an extra ordinary event, as it is in Javanese culture. Traditionally, in Javanese culture, before the wedding day a bride has to stay apart from the bridegroom for 40 days. It is called pingitan. The girl particularly, has to keep her body and face clean by using a kind of traditional herbal powder called lulur so that on the wedding day her skin will look bright and soft.

On the last day of her pingitan, there is a ceremony called siraman in which seven elderly relatives will bathe the bride. On this occasion, the bride is bathed in water with certain kinds of flowers ; that is the kembang setaman. Then, she is dressed up by a dukun rias, a beautician. A part of the siraman water is sent to the bridegroom for his bath. In the evening, the bride’s family hold the so-called malam widodaren (the fairy’s night) as a farewell party of her. It is as a symbol before she leaves home and begins her new life. Many of her friends and relatives will come to the party.

On the wedding day, the bridegroom has to promise in the ijab Kabul ceremony. Basically the promises say that he will be faithful, gentle and responsible to his wife and family. As in many other cultures, the bridegroom also has to give his wedding gifts or mas kawin to the bride. The value of the gifts differs from one to another. The richer the bridegroom, the more expensive the mas kawin usually is.


The next day, the bride and the bridegroom meet each other in the temon ceremony. This time they are accompanied by their parents and relatives. In the ceremony the bride and the bridegroom throw some sirih leaves at each other. After this, the bridegroom crushes an egg. As a sign of faithfulness, the bride should kneel down. She washes the bridegroom’s right foot with kembang setaman water and cleans it with a small towel. Then they sit in the bridal couch called pagi-pagi, this time, they listen to advice or ular-ular given by an elderly man. This part of the ceremony is very formal. After that, they go to a less formal one.

Rafflesia Arnoldi

People spent a lot of money on flowers. They decorate their houses with flowers because flowers make gardens attractive and beautiful.

If we visit the botanical garden in Bogor, we will see many kinds of interesting flowers, such as cactuses, ferns, water lilies, orchids and others. Among those flowers there is a very strange flower which is called “Rafflesia Arnoldi”. This is flower is the biggest in the world. When it blooms, it can reach one meter in diameter and 1.40 meters in height.

The plant was discovered by Beccary, an Italian botanist, when he visited Sumatra. However, it was Sir Thomas Stanford Raffles, the British Governor General, who built the Botanical Garden in Bogor where we can see this flower now. That is why this flower is called Rafflesia Arnoldi.

The plant produces flower once in ten years. It blooms three or four times a year. Before producing flowers, the stem becomes dry. It looks dead, but the main root in the ground is alive. It was very unpleasant smell while the flower is blossoming. It attracts green flies to come near. If the flies touch the bottom part the stick-like centre, they will die.

The Two Seasons In Indonesia

Indonesia has to two seasons the dry season and the wet season. Each season lasts about six months. The dry season begin in April and ends in September. The wet season begins in October and ends in March.

In the dry season there is no rain and the weather is very hot. If the dry season lasts too long, it will make the farmer unhappy. It even brings suffering to the farmer. There is no water, the river is dry and a lot of plants and animals die because of the drought.

After the dry season ends, the wet season comes. It rains almost every day. The heaviest rainfall is in December and January. During the wet season, the farmers plant paddies and vegetables. They feel very happy then. But if heavy rains fall continuously every day, it will be dangerous. It will bring suffering to the people, too. The river overflows. It cause flood here and there, and farming areas are damaged.

To overcome this problem the government builds a lot of dams, provides good irrigation and also protects the forest from destruction.

Indonesian’s Culture and Ethnic Groups

Most of the people of Indonesian are Malays who came to the islands from the mainland of Asia above 4,000 years ago. The more primitive people whom the Malays found on their arrival moved eastward into New Guinea and the islands of the Western Pasific. The majority of the Indonesians have light brown skin and straight black hair. They are rather short and slim.

Indonesian’s people are a fascinating mixture of races and culture. Indonesian culture is formed by regional cultures of the tribes all over Indonesia. Each region has specific culute and enriches national culture. Indonesia consist of about 300 ethnic groups speaking either their regional languages. There are lots of regional languages in Indonesia, because there are lots of ethnic gropus here. These languages are still spoken by the people in their respective areas. Most of them can speak at least two languages, Indonesia and their own regional languages. Many other languages and dialects are spoken by the Indonesian people. Indonesian has been chosen as the national language of Indonesia. It is closely related to Malay and is spoken on all of the island. It can unite all Indonesians although Indonesia consist of different ethnic groups. The people in Jakarta speak Bahasa Betawi. The people in West Java speak Sundanese, those in Central and East Java speak Javanese, those in Madura speak Madurese and those in Bali speak Balinese. The other regional languages are Bahasa Padang, Bahasa Batak, Minahasa, Maluku and some others. The Javanese language is divided into three languages, the ordinary language (ngoko) is spoken by common or ordinary people, the more polite language (kromo) is spoken by people to other people they don’t know well, and the most polite language (kromo inggil) spoken by people to older people or people of higher class. And so is Sundanese. This language generally consists of the ordinary language and the flowery language.

Local art is a product made by local people. It expresses the uniqueness of the maker, of the society to which the maker belongs, of all mankind, or of all of these. The product appeals to the intellect and to the senses. The product can be a variety of forms a musical composition, a dance, a play, a public exhibition, a concert, or a novel or poem. There are various kinds of local arts on Java Island. If foreign tourists visit the Lebak regency, they will be atteacted to the Debus performance. The performer stabs himself with a dagger or a sword but he does not hurt himself. In Bandung foreign tourists will be able to see the Angklung concert. Angklung is a musical instrument made of bamboo. The player just shakes it. In Central and West Java, drama is often in the form of puppet plays called Wayang. Some of the foreign tourists enjoy the puppet show. The Wayang, accompanied by music played on native instruments in a Gamelan orchestra, are very popular. Local dances besed on legend also attract many spectators. Wayang Orang (man or women dressed in wayang and plays a certain role in the story) performance and Ketoprak are very pupolar in Solo and Yogya. And so is Wayang Orang performance in Semarang. If foreign tourists visit Ponorogo in East Java, they will enjoy the Reog Ponorogo show. It resembles the dragon show like one in Hongkong. They can also go to Surabaya to see the Ludruk show, it is similar to Kabuki in Japan.

The nation’s ethnic diversity has never created problems. The government has to be becareful that each group feels it is a full partner in the nation’s development. The major religion in Indonesian is Islam, and almost all of the people are Moslems. A small number of the people are Christians, Catholics, Hindus, Budhist and Konghucu. On the islands of Bali, most of the inhabitants are Hindus. Many people in Indonesian still believe in spirits. The adat, or local custom, also plays an important part in the life of the people. Indonesian has many superstitions as well as folk-tales, especially in villages and remote areas. Some believe that women shouldn’t sing while they are cooking as they’ll marry a very old man. Others believe that we shouldn’t take a photo of three people as this mean the person in the middle will die. Do you think the people who believe in those superstitions and do the rituals related to the superstitions are stupid, weird, or what ? What about going to shaman ? Many people do that, ven senior afficials and famous artists. Believe it or not yeah remember this is Indonesian.

Komodo Island National Park

Komodo National Park is national park in South Central Indonesia, Manggarai, East Nusa Tenggara. This park is located on three islands, namely Komodo, Rinca, and Padar island. It was first protected in 1938 and founded as a national park in 1980. Komodo National Park covers 520 sq km. The Komodo island has just one village of about 450 people.
The island of Komodo is one of the few remaining areas inhabited by the Komodo dragon, which is protected in Indonesia. Komodo dragon are giant lizard that roam wild over the island. They measure up to 3 metres long, weigh up to 135 kg, and can live 100 years. In 1969 an American (Florida University) researcher, Walter Auffenberg, observes the rare animal’s behaviour. In this report he describes that a female Komodo dragon weighing 50 kgs in 17 minutes only. The animals also have lethal, secret weapon, their saliva. The saliva contains deadly poisonous bacteria. Once bitten, a prey will slowly be dead.

For their meals, park officials regularly supply pig and goat carcasses. Feeding process is important to attract the lizards to viewing areas for tourists. About 1,000 of the dragons are known to live on the island of Komodo, another 1,000 live on the neighboring island of Rinca.
Most lizards are harmless and benefit humans by controlling insect populations. Some species are a source of food, some are killed for their skins, although it is now illegal to do so in many countries. A number of species are threatened by encroachment on their habitat, and the largest living lizard, the Komodo dragon, is one of the endangered species in the world.

Komodo dragons have long necks, powerful tails, and muscular limbs ending in strong claws. Like snakes, they flick their forked tongues to detect the chemical scents given off by prey. They spend most of their time on land, although they are capable of swimming and climbing trees.
Komodo dragons firstly interested wester people in 1910. A Dutch lieutenant, Lieutenant van Steyn van Hessbroek was interested in the stories told by Manggarai people in Flores. The he decided to visit the place by himself. He killed a 2.1 metres Komodo dragon and sent it’s skin to Peter A. Ouwens, Director of Zoology Meseum and Bogor Botanical Garden, West Java. Ouwens also visit the island and named the species Varanus Komodoensis. Since then, the site was visited by numerous people, both researches and tourists.