Kutai culture festival draws to wet, wild end

Pandaya, The Jakarta Post, Tenggarong, East Kalimantan

People gathered in Tenggarong burst into cheers throughout Sunday as tens of thousands of people took to the streets, laughing, singing, dancing and good-heartedly dousing each other to mark the end of this year's Kutai culture festival, Erau, in East Kalimantan.

Revelers coming from as far away as Balikpapan, three-hours drive to the south of the town, streamed in as early as Saturday morning, and packed every inch of the main streets around the palace overlooking the Mahakam River to see the closing ceremonies.

Ignoring repeated court officials' calls to restrain from dousing each other until the court ritual finished in the afternoon, youngsters armed with water bags started playfully squirting water at each other even before the sacred court ritual began at 10 a.m.

Two low flying motorized gliders dropped leaflets calling for the crowds to follow the rules of the much awaited Belimbur wet festivity: no dirty water, no hard feelings, no dousing of professionals (including police) on duty.

Regent Syaukani promised TV sets, refrigerators and gas stoves to people who found five leaflets bearing his signature.

"It's fun, I love it," said Novi, a high school student from the provincial capital Samarinda, who came to Tenggarong with three friends. Traffic was unusually light and people were out in casual clothes.

The festive mood already filled the air on Saturday night when Tenggarong's streets were jammed with traffic. Cheap hotels were fully booked and many of the would-be revelers were happy to spend the night in their trucks parked on main streets.

The eight-day Erau Festival, which was combined with the Jepen/Zapin International Festival, ended with a sacred ceremony called Ngulur Naga (releasing dragons) at the Old Kutai Palace, hosted by Sultan Aji Muhammad Salehuddin II and officially closed by Yurnalis Ngayoh, East Kalimantan vice-governor.

Ngulur Naga is a ritual dedicated to the founders of Kutai Kartanegara in the 5th century. Two 10-meter dragon statues were taken by an army of palace family members and servants along with Dayak tribal customary figures in their colorful attire to Kutai Lama, or Old Kutai, the site of the early Kutai kingdom, near Samarinda.

The giant dragons were loaded onto the roof of a decorated traditional ship that would dump it into the Mahakam River as sacrifice after a two-hour journey on the vast river. The ship came back with a pot of holy water (air tuli), which was used to usher in the dousing party.

The ritual follows the mythology about the birth of Kutai kingdom. The myth has it that a pair of dragons appeared from the bottom of Mahakam near what is now Kutai Lama on a stormy day. On their back was Lembu Suana, a mythical ox with an iron gong on its head containing a baby girl wrapped in yellow cloth.

Found and raised by a couple in the village, the girl, Putri Karang Melenu, later married a knight named Aji Batara Agung Dewa Sakti. They became queen and king.

After transferring power to their heir many years later when they were too old to reign, Paduka Nira Dewa Sakti disappeared into the forest and Putri Karang Melenu into the Mahakam where the dragons and the ox were awaiting.

The Erau was completed last night with the next sacred ritual in which tiang ayu, a wooden heirloom stick erected on the palace verandah at the beginning of the festival, was removed.