The Archipelago
People revelling for Cap Go Meh
Severianus Endi and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Pontianak / Medan | Mon, 02/06/2012 8:08 AM
Decorative lamps of different sizes and forms are merrily hung alongside the main streets of Singkawang, West Kalimantan, as the "city of a thousand temples" gears up before the peak of the 2012 Cap Go Meh festival this Monday.
Chinese-Indonesians across the country are ready to welcome Cap Go Meh, the 15th day in the first month of the Chinese Lunar year. It is the closing celebration that begins with Imlek.
In Singkawang, the celebration involves tatung, which refers to a person believed to be possessed by the spirits of ancestors.
Since Saturday different tatung groups have started to perform in their respective regions, while preparing to join the peak event this Monday.
"It's really getting merrier and merrier this weekend. We had a parade of decorative lamps right along the city's main thoroughfares," local Hon Meu told The Jakarta Post from Singkawang over the weekend.
He said that over 600 tatung groups had registered to join the peak event on Monday. They will perform while their souls are believed to be possessed by a god's or ancestor's spirit.
For some people, the performance is considered horrifying as the possessed performers usually pierce themselves with sharp objects through their nose or their cheeks or step on the sharp edges of a set of chopping knives arranged like stairs — without injuring themselves.
Last year the festival made a record at the Indonesian Museum of Records (MURI) with the largest number of participating tatung; over 700. Another record was made the same year with the longest decoration dragon, measuring 320-meters long.
The dragon has been placed at the Kridasana Stadium since Jan. 22 to mark the celebration of the Chinese New Year in Singkawang, a city where the majority of the population are of Chinese descent. A replica of the Great Wall of China has also been installed at the stadium and has become a major attraction for visitors.
Thanks to the celebration, all 23 hotels in the city that offer a combined 700 rooms have been fully booked since a few days ago.
This has moved the city administration to coordinate with home stay owners to add more rooms in anticipation of a tourist boom, especially because the administration has set a target of receiving some 20,000 domestic and foreign tourists this Monday alone.
Head of the city Culture, Tourism, Youth and Sport Agency, Lies Indari, said that the number of tourists visiting Singkawang during the Cap Go Meh festival had been steadily increasing each year thanks to the festival being renowned domestically and abroad.
With Cap Go Meh being celebrated as the closing day of Imlek, people in Medan, North Sumatra, are also reminded that the Imlek celebration is going to end and that they should be ready for work the following day.
"Cap Go Meh means the 15th night on the Chinese calendar, which is called Yuan Xziao Jie. It is the closing day, which means for those who work, they are ready to return to work," Indra Wahidin, head of the Chinese-Indonesians association in the city, said on Sunday.
Revelers will usually go out during the celebration, while Imlek is mostly commemorated at home.
For Kwok Shelly, Cap Go Meh gives her an opportunity to purify he mind with the hope that good luck will follow her in the future.
Sent from Mangkokmerah®
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