'Munggahan' tradition ushers in Ramadhan<\/p>\n
Yuli Tri Suwarni, The Jakarta Post, Bandung<\/p>\n
Fifty-year-old Sumiyati, of Sindanglaya, Ujungberung here, went
\nto the market two days in a row ahead of the fasting month of
\nRamadhan. She purchased chicken, beef, rice and vegetables, as
\nwell as bananas.<\/p>\n
Skyrocketing food prices have followed the Oct. 1 fuel price
\nincreases. But Sumiyati had her mind set on following tradition.<\/p>\n
\"No matter how high the prices are, it wouldn't be right to
\nusher in Ramadhan without something special. We'll cook food to
\nshare among our parents, siblings and also neighbors,\" said the
\nmother of five who was born and grew up in the eastern part of
\nBandung.<\/p>\n
Cooking dishes and sending them to parents and relatives
\nbefore Ramadhan is a tradition called munggahan, and is still
\nadhered to by some Sundanese people.<\/p>\n
Sumiyati carries out the munggahan by cooking plenty of food
\nfrom dawn, a day prior to fasting begins. The menu consists of
\nstandard dishes: gepuk (beef cooked in dark gravy), stir-fried
\nstringbeans, fried rice noodles, prawn crackers and bananas.<\/p>\n
She sends some of the food to her parents and parents-in-law,
\nas well as her siblings. Some of the food will be eaten together
\nwith neighbors on the front porch of the house, called botram
\n(eating outside the house). The leftover food will be eaten
\nduring sahur (pre-dawn meal) before fasting.<\/p>\n
Munggahan is practiced for various reasons: to greet the month
\nof Ramadhan, to strengthen friendship, and to provide an
\nopportunity to ask for forgiveness before commencing with the
\nfasting month.<\/p>\n
The peak of the ritual is a lunch the day before fasting
\nstarts, because Muslims cannot eat during the day until the next
\nmonth.<\/p>\n
In Sukabumi regency, a similar tradition also takes place. On
\nthe southern coast of West Java, the tradition is called papajar,
\nor eating together outdoors (usually at tourist destinations like
\nthe Pelabuhanratu beach).<\/p>\n
The mandi bersih ritual, part of the munggahan, and performed
\na day before the Ramadhan month arrives, is aimed at purifying
\noneself before embarking on religious duties.<\/p>\n
Another ritual is visiting relatives' graves the week before
\nRamadhan. Graveyards will be full of visitors cleaning the graves
\nof relatives, scattering flowers and reciting prayers for the
\npeaceful souls of the deceased.<\/p>\n
Dr. Nina Herlina Lubis, a Sundanese historian from Padjadjaran
\nUniversity, said that the munggahan tradition had existed since
\nthe spread of Islam in West Java around the 19th century. She
\nsaid the Sundanese word munggah meant \"getting up from a lower
\nplace to a higher one.\"<\/p>\n
\"The deeper meaning of the word is that Muslims will enter the
\nholy month of Ramadhan, ranked highest among other months in the
\nIslamic calendar. As is stated in the Koran, God will multiply
\nthe rewards for every good deed during the fasting month,\" she
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
When Nina was still in elementary school in Cibuntu, Bandung,
\naround the 1960s, the tradition was still actively practiced. She
\nhad to cleanse herself a day before fasting and she followed her
\nmother around bringing food to relatives, and later visited the
\ngraves of predecessors to recite prayers and clean the graves.<\/p>\n
However, she said that the tradition had faded, as most people
\nnow regarded it as impractical and costly.<\/p>",
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