Lunar New Year and Cap Go Meh Festival in Tabanan Features Inter-Faith Cultural Parade

A cross-faith cultural parade was held as part of the 2026 Lunar New Year Festival and Cap Go Meh 2577 celebration in Tabanan on Monday, 9 March 2026. The third edition of this festival began with a cultural parade from Dharma Cattra Vihara in Tabanan proceeding to the main stage at Bung Karno Park. The procession was festive and involved diverse cultural and religious elements.

The parade opened with flag-bearers, followed by the Tabanan Regency Government marching band, lion dances, and the Pelangi Harmoni procession comprising representatives of six religions united through the Inter-Religious Harmony Forum (FKUB), alongside youth and women from different religious backgrounds.

Tabanan Bupati I Komang Gede Sanjaya stated that the Lunar New Year festival, held annually, is not merely a celebration of Chinese culture but also a tangible demonstration of the regency’s commitment to maintaining harmony within a diverse society.

Sanjaya added that Tabanan Regency had previously received a Harmony Award from the Ministry of Religion (Kemenag) in recognition of its successful efforts to maintain inter-religious harmony.

Sanjaya drew an analogy between religious and cultural diversity and the philosophy of fried rice. “Cooking fried rice requires mixing all ingredients together. There is rice, salt, egg, chicken and vegetables. When everything is united, it tastes delicious. The same applies to harmony in Tabanan. When we are united, the results are certainly good as well,” said Sanjaya.

The parade also featured children in traditional regional costumes from across the Indonesian archipelago, participants in cheongsam, children’s marching bands, barong landung traditional figures, barong bangkung figures, lion dances, and performing arts from outside Bali such as Jaipong dance and Sundanese Jawara.