`Dugderan' festival greets Ramadhan

`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.