Kraton festival opens in Yogya amid great fanfare
Kraton festival opens in Yogya amid great fanfare
JAKARTA (JP): A grand and colorful festival involving seven
royal houses of Java was opened in Yogyakarta on Saturday.
The cheery opening ceremony of the Kraton Festival took place
on the city's northern square and attracted throngs of locals and
foreign tourists.
The week-long festival, the third of its kind, is being
participated in by the kraton (royal houses) of Kraton
Nyayogyakarta Hadiningrat and Pura Pakualaman (both of
Yogyakarta), Mangkunegaran and Kasunanan (both of Surakarta or
popularly called Solo), and Kasepuhan, Kanoman and Katjirebonan
(all from the West Java town of Cirebon). The festival is said to
be the biggest ever held in this city which is known as a center
of Javanese culture.
The committee will also hold an exhibition of kraton relics,
a gamelan music concert, a show of traditional fashion from
Surakarta, an art market and several other cultural activities,
Antara reported.
Dignitaries present at the ceremony, which was opened by
Coordinating Minister for Political Affairs and Security Soesilo
Soedarman, included cabinet ministers, the governors of Central
Java, Yogyakarta and West Java and members of the diplomatic
corps from Jakarta.
Before opening the festival, Minister Soesilo (in left photo)
inspected all the participating royal troops from an ancient
carriage. All the soldiers wore traditional uniforms complete
with spears, keris (traditional daggers) and ancient rifles.
The opening ceremony was followed by a parade, called kirab
ageng, of 1,600 soldiers of the ancient royal houses, dozens of
cavaliers and 14 carriages representing the seven kraton.
They marched along a 15-kilometer route around the ancient
fortress of the Yogyakarta sultanate which was lined by an
enthusiastic crowd which numbered into the thousands.
Sultan Hamengkubuwono X of Yogyakarta said at the ceremony
that the festival is a means of preserving local cultures.
He hoped the festival would spur people's creativity. The
sultan said the festival is included in the city's tourism
agenda. (tis)