Tedhak Siten

Emang dasar maminya doyan dengan acara-acara semacam ini, jadilah tedhak siten-nya Raja pun diacarain. Menurut budaya di beberapa daerah di Indonesia (gak cuma Jawa lho), setelah usia selapanan ke-7 (kira-kira menjelang umur 8 bulan) bayi-bayi mulai boleh dilatih untuk berdiri dan berjalan atau istilahnya ‘turun tanah’. Nah karena kebetulan April ini ada libur panjang dan aku diizinkan untuk ambil cuti 2 hari, maka kami sekeluarga langsung berangkat ke Jogja dan bikin acara di sana.

Dari penjelasan si mas MC, tedhak siten itu adalah ritual yang secara simbolik menggambarkan kesiapan anak untuk menapaki kehidupan yang penuh dengan rintangan dan hambatan. Di awal acara anak akan dituntun untuk menapak di atas 7 macam jadah yg dibuat 7 warna dan disusun dari gelap ke terang. Maknanya adalah bahwa seberat apapun masalah yang dihadapi, insyaAllah ada titik terangnya. Setelah melewati jadah, anak dituntun untuk menapaki tangga Arjuna yang terbuat dari tebu ireng (tebu Arjuna). Setelah naik-turun tangga, anak akan menginjak onggokan pasir dan ‘eker-ekeran‘ di sana (seperti ayam lagi mencari makan gitu). Maknanya adalah kelak si anak akan mengarungi naik-turunnya hidup dalam mencari penghidupan. 

World Peace Orchestra @UGM Yogyakarta

Celebrating it’s 60^th anniversary, Universitas Gadjah Mada (UGM) held a musical concert by World Peace Orchestra. World Peace Orchestra is a musical group conducted by Dwiki Dharmawan. They combined various kind of traditional music instruments in the style of orchestra. I was so excited to attend the show, even since the day before. Fortunately I got the ticket!!! *many pepople said it was SOLD OUT*.

On last night’s event, UGM campaigned “Vote Komodo for the New 7 Wonders”. Rector of the university, Prof. Ir. Sudjarwadi, M.Eng, Ph.D, symbolically voted  for it by clicking on the link after the clip of Komodo Island profile.

Sangam House: Soul of Bhārat Gaṇarājya

Spicy curry? Martabak? Ow come on… India has more than that. OK, firstly, it’s about the name. Sangam (संगम) means confluence of rivers. The owners, two frenchmen who had stayed in India for years, built ‘Sangam House’ about 3 months ago at the western-side of Jl. Kaliurang km. 5,6 (Pandega Siwi 14), Yogyakarta. It holds the concept of art-boutique and restaurant. Indian soul was brought glamourously by the decorations, cute little park (with a big picture of Mahatma Gandhi), waiters costumes, and of course, the food itself.

Bon Odori (盆踊り)

Bon Odori (盆踊り) is Japanese traditional dance that involves people to line up in a circle and do some movements like clapping, jumping, etc. together. Originally, Bon Odori is a part of celebration for gratefulness toward Gods and ancestors. These picture was taken when I was attending Tourism Festival at Fakultas Ilmu Budaya UGM (30/05/2009).

Latihan menari

There are many reasons why people do traditional dance, as a job, part of local habit, hobby, or even to burn some calories. But there are more philosophies within traditional dancing activity (and other culture-based activities). There are beliefs and life values. That’s what we call ‘local wisdom’…

Far-East Ambience

last week I visited art show @ bentara budaya (next to TELKOM building, YK). It was collaborative show held for the commemoration of 50 years Indonesia-Japan bilateral affair. It was so new for me,, coz I’d never see anything like that kind of show. Ratih took me there on the afternoon (she’s student of Japan’s letter faculty).

when I arrived there the show had ran for couple hours, but it wasn’t too late cuz there were still a lot of show remaining. So many people were there,, maybe it was because of the small venue, so it seemed so crowd. The Indonesian & Japanese shows was played by turns, but anyone could join the show and play together with the dancers/performers.

First show I saw was ‘bon odori’ (盆踊り), Japanese dance performed by Indonesian student of Japan’s letter faculty, UGM. I think it’s closely alike with Indonesian ‘poco-poco’, which some of its movements are repeated and easy to follow. The dancers formed a circle than did some claps, jumpings, and other movements together. The female dancers wore ‘yukata’, Japanese traditional dress, and the males wore another kind of Japanese traditional dress (I don’t know the name).