'Cap Go Meh' parade set to liven up Sunday morning

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Thousands of Jakartans will parade along the streets on Sunday to take part in the exciting celebrations of Cap Go Meh to mark the end of Chinese New Year festivities, which began on Jan. 22.

A procession of four toapekong (likenesses of traditional gods) will start at 9 a.m. from Wihara Toasebio on Jl. Petak Sembilan, Glodok, West Jakarta.

At the intersection of Jl. Asemka and Fatahillah Museum Park, the toapekong will be welcomed by cultural arts performances from different Indonesian cultures, such as barongsai (lion dance) and liong (dragon dance) and reog (Javanese traditional dance from Ponorogo, East Java).

The organizer said a Sun Go Kong dance (epic hero who appeared as a white monkey) will also aptly mark the Year of the Monkey.

The parade, called Pawai Budaya II, is the second year that the such celebrations have become legal since all Chinese cultural activities were banned by the government for over three decades.

Simply meaning "night of the 15th" in the southern Chinese dialect, Hokkien, Cap Go Meh is usually celebrated 15 days after the lunar new year, which is believed to be the day when the gods come out of the heavens to grant wishes and spread good luck.

Head of West Jakarta transportation agency, Theodorus Marbun, however, said that traffic patterns would not be altered for the parade.

"The parade will not disturb the busway or regular traffic, but we will deploy 25 extra officers as a precautionary measure," he said.