Cannons to alert peope on Idul Fitri eve

Cannons to alert peope on Idul Fitri eve

Bambang Bider, The Jakarta Post, Pontianak, West Kalimantan

Standing on the Kapuas bridge at night and looking upstream, the luminescence of colorful lights on the calmly flowing Kapuas River creates an illusion that the water is a stretch of land, alive with merriment on the eve of the post-Ramadhan Idul Fitri celebration.

Along the banks of the Kapuas and Landak rivers stand carbide- charged cannons, their ceaseless booming giving the impression that Pontianak is at war -- or celebrating a victory.

The broad expanse of the Kapuas can reverberate the thunderous boom of the cannons up to 20 kilometers away, and so resound the spirit of festivity over the two days of Idul Fitri -- especially on the night before the holiday, also known as Lebaran.

People living in the vicinity of Pontianak flock to the riverbanks of the Kapuas to watch this rare, traditional event.

Muhidin, a resident of East Pontianak, said "Every year, just before Lebaran, I take my family to the Kapuas river to watch the firing exchange of the cannons.

"For me, this event takes me back to my childhood. Back then, when it got close to Lebaran, the cannons would boom like this in contest."

For the Muslim Malays of Pontianak, West Kalimantan, the carbide-cannon contest is an expression of their triumph at making it through a full month of fasting.

Syaiful, secretary of the Carbide-Cannon Contest Forum, said for those residents living on the banks of the Kapuas, the contest was an inseparable part of their lives and could be traced back to the bygone days of the sultanate that settled the region and the birth of the city of Pontianak.

Syarif Toto Taha Alqadrie, a descendant of the royal family of Kadariah Palace in Pontianak, added that the people of Pontianak should never forget that the first sultan used a cannon to open up the area where Pontianak now stands.

Legend has it, he said, that the cannon was used to expel the evil spirits that were disturbing the clearing of the land, and that Pontianak was actually named after one of the spirits.

In 1771, when Sultan Syarif Abdurachman Alqadrie was developing the Batu Layang area -- where present-day Kadariah Palace is located -- he met with many obstacles from local spirits.

They say the spirits were pontianak, which assumes the shape of a woman with a hole in her back, and puake, which dwell at the bottom of the river. The sultan fired a cannon to drive the spirits away.

While a cannon was, in the past, indeed part of the sultanate's war arsenal, it also had a social function. The sound of a cannon symbolizes dignity and grandeur, and the firing of a cannon was initially a royal tradition. Back in those days, a cannon was fired only on special occasions, such as coronations, births, circumcision rites and religious holidays, like Lebaran.

"The Malay people, particularly those living in East and North Pontianak, have preserved the cannon-contest tradition and usually perform it just before Lebaran. This tradition is almost as old as the city of Pontianak," Syarif Toto noted.

The contest was banned between 1967 and 1970 by the authorities because the sound of a cannon could frighten children and harm adults with heart conditions.

Syaiful said the booming sound of a cannon did not frighten Pontianak children.

"In the tradition of the Pontianak Malays, when a child is born, the infant is immediately exposed to a loud noise, such as the sound of a rice pestle pounding mortar to mark its birth, or the sound of a cannon to mark a royal birth."

In 1998, the mayor of Pontianak issued a decree legalizing the cannon contest, which has since become an annual festival, but was also preserved as it promotes tourism to the region. Every year, the contest is held two days before and two days after Lebaran. During the holidays, which is opened by the mayor, the cannons are fired day and night.

This year, the Pontianak municipality administration and the West Kalimantan provincial administration gave Rp 5 million to the winner of the contest, plus a rotating trophy from the Pontianak mayor and a permanent cup from the West Kalimantan culture and tourism office.

"The cash prize is actually nothing compared to the cost of making the cannons. What counts, though, is recognition and preservation," Syaiful said.

About Rp 16 million is needed to make a cannon and its accessories. To make the cannon, which measures 94 centimeters in diameter and seven to nine meters long, it costs Rp 1.8 million.

Each contestant must first submit a proposal, detailing the cost of making their cannon.

Apparently, it was relatively easy this year to raise money for the festival, as many political parties were willing to make a contribution -- as long as the contestants agreed to display the banner of the sponsoring party.

Under a rather dim neon light, six children were putting carbide, then water, into their cannons. There were neither colorful lights nor party banners in sight.

Nine minutes later, they lit the fuse and each child took position, sitting behind their own cannon. Moments later, a series of great booms was heard from the six cannons, one after the other.

The children's faces beamed with happiness as they shouted loud and clear: "Happy Idul Fitri 2003!!"