Javanese set to celebrate 'Satu Suro'
Suherdjoko and Slamet Susanto, The Jakarta Post/Semarang/Yogyakarta
Thousands of people in Yogyakarta and Central Java are expected to participate in the traditional celebration of Satu Suro, the new year according to the Javanese calendar, which coincides with the Islamic New Year.
In Surakarta, one of cultural centers on Java island, the Pura Mangkunegaran and Surakarta Hadiningrat Palaces will hold separate parades that will encircle the respective palaces in the city on Wednesday night or on the eve of Satu Suro.
In the parade, the leading families of each palace will carry the palace's coat of arms. Thousands of people will attend the processions.
Later on Thursday morning, Surakarta Hadiningrat Palace officials will float offerings at five locations in Surakarta, including in Dlepih Beach here.
Meanwhile, thousands of people in the city will celebrate Satu Suro by meditating, fasting and bathing in rivers as a purification ritual.
For the Javanese, Satu Suro is a sacred day and is celebrated solemnly.
In Semarang city, people will celebrate the eve of Satu Suro by staying submerged in the Garang River near Soeharto Monument, some two kilometers west of downtown Semarang.
"I always stay submerged in the Garang River on the eve of Satu Suro. I have done it for years," said Suroto, a Semarang resident.
In Yogyakarta, Satu Suro celebrations on some beaches in the province will be delayed due to a recent warning by the governor that a storm would strike the southern coastal area of Yogyakarta in February.
No one is expected to celebrate Satu Suro along the Yogyakarta coast, following the announcement by Yogyakarta Governor Sri Sultan Hamengkubuwono X, who is also the Sultan of Yogyakarta.
The sultan, based on a report by the local Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMG), had earlier said that people had to avoid the southern coastal areas of Yogyakarta as a storm would strike in the area between Feb. 8 and 13.
Instead of holding the celebration on the beach, the sultan has instructed Yogyakarta Palace officials to pray in mosques near the palace for the safety and prosperity of Yogyakarta residents, as reported by tempointeraktif news portal.
Rudjito, the chief of fishermen's association at Samas beach, said that the planned ceremony on Samas Beach would be held on February 20, or about a week after the expected storm.
In the ceremony, the fishermen will float the head of a butchered buffalo as an offering to the keeper of the Indian Ocean in order that she bestows prosperity and safety on the fishermen in the new year. A similar ceremony will also be held on Feb. 24 at Parangtritis beach by the Hondo Dento Foundation, a foundation that is dedicated to the preservation of Javanese culture.