`Dugderan' festival greets Ramadhan
Suherdjoko, The Jakarta Post, Semarang
Sweat trickled down the innocent faces of Dodi, 5, and Sigit, 8. Under the scorching sun, the kids and their parents lined up along the sidewalk on Jl. Pemuda here.
Dodi and Sigit craned their necks, anxiously waiting for the Dugderan parade to pass the street. The parade is an annual event to greet the holy month of Ramadhan.
"Even though we are not from Semarang and moved here from Yogyakarta only half a year ago I really want to see this event, which is apparently characteristic of the city," said Hartono, the children's father, who lives in Pedurungan, Semarang.
Dugderan is a festival related to Islam and held one day before the fasting month. The origins of the festival date back as far as 1881, when Semarang was under the authority of Regent Raden Tumenggung Suryokusumo (1860-1887).
To this day, the regent beats the drum at the mosque to mark the beginning of the festival, followed by the salvo of a canon. The sound of the drumbeat, "dug... dug... dug... ", and the salvo, "der... der... der...", inspired the Javanese to call it "Dugderan".
The mascot of Dugderan is the warak, a four-legged beast, with the body of a horse, a long neck like a giraffe and the head of a dragon. The animal sports colorful curly hair, its wide-open mouth revealing its teeth.
This hybrid is thankfully not known to the real world nor hails from Javanese myths or legends.
Some believe that it might be symbolic of Buraq, the giant bird that carried the Prophet Muhammad to the heavens. But many others doubt this theory. An idea which is widely accepted is that the warak was born of the acculturation of the Chinese, Javanese and Islamic cultures.
The spread of Islam in Semarang can be traced through the Tionghwa Chronicle that is kept at the Sam Po Kong temple. The chronicle relates that in 1413, a ship from the Ming Dynasty stopped in Semarang for one month to undergo repairs.
During their brief stay in the city, Admiral Haj Sam Po Bo, Ma Huan and Fe Tsin, three Muslim officials, often performed their prayers in (what is now called) the Hanafi Chinese mosque.
It is assumed that from this point, Islam was spread to the north Java coastal areas. Following a successful crusade, Raden Patah (who was called Djin Bun in the Tionghwa Chronicle and was said to be of Chinese descent) established an Islamic kingdom in nearby Demak in 1475.
Other people believe the word warak is derived from the Arabic word wira'i, which is known among the sufi (Muslim mystics).
Wira'i means to purify oneself from evil deeds. This sounds plausible if the meaning is related to the significance of Ramadhan as Muslims are expected to refrain from impure thoughts during this time. Apparently, the Javanese found it difficult to pronounce wira'i, so they simplified it to warak.
Symbolizing that those who refrain from evil acts can be cleansed, the warak -- which represents evil, with its wide, threatening eyes -- lays a white egg to signify purification.
The parade starts from the City Hall on Jl. Pemuda and the Semarang mayor play-acts as Regent Tumenggung Suryokusumo. All city officials wear traditional Javanese costumes from the coastal areas. The traditional Patangpuluhan soldiers of Semarang, led by Manggalayudha (commander of the troops), also take part in the carnival.
In last week's Dugderan festival, Semarang Mayor Sukatawi Sutarip acted as the Regent. After he received a report from the police chief of Kauman Subdistrict, Arwin Helmi, saying that Ramadhan was about to begin, the mayor beat the drum. This was followed by the firing of a canon fueled by carbide.
The parade -- including the warak, 14 marching bands from several schools in the city and traditional dancers -- moved through Jl. Pemuda toward the Semarang Grand Mosque, which is about two kilometers away. Dodi, Sigit and their parents were among thousands of people who braved the heat to watch the event.
The Dugderan parade also marked the end of the two-week traditional night market, called Sekatenan, which is held to celebrate Prophet Muhammad's birthday and is similar to markets held in Yogyakarta and Surakarta.
Warak dolls were available during Sekatenan for between Rp 7,500 (85 U.S. cents) and Rp 20,000 each. Each doll came with a bonus chicken egg.
"I did good business this time. I made 400 warak and they sold-out," said Supardi.
Slamet Riyadi, another vendor at the night market, also sold all four of the goat-sized warak he had made for Rp 350,000 each.
But the biggest warak were made by Kamadi, 45, and his wife Supriyati, 42. Their warak were commissioned by the Central Semarang and East Semarang regencies and were as big as horses.
They spent Rp 750,000 on materials to make each of the dolls and sold them for Rp 1.5 million each.
"Not a bad start to prepare for Idul Fitri," Kamadi remarked.
As part of the Dugderan celebrations a Warak Festival was held at the Raden Saleh Semarang Art Center, featuring many colorful warak and an exhibition of martial arts, accompanied by traditional music. One brave child was seen riding a giant warak.