Tradition of Celebrating Lebaran Ketupat - West Nusa Tenggara

After Idul Fitri: Residents jostle to grab ketupat (rice cones) during Lebaran Topat (The seventh day after Idul Fitri) at Duduk Beach, Senggigi area, West Nusa Tenggara on Monday. Many Indonesian Muslims celebrated Lebaran Topat or Riyoyo Kupat (in Javanese) by eating rice cones and various condiments. JP/Panca Nugraha

In an expression of gratitude for completing the Ramadhan fasting month, thousands of Muslims across the country gathered on Monday to celebrate Lebaran Ketupat, which is held to commemorate the conclusion of an extra six days of fasting following Idul Fitri.

The word ketupat refers to steamed rice cooked inside a diamond-shaped container made of plaited coconut or palm leaves. It is served as the main dish during the celebration.

In West Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara (NTB), thousands of Muslims celebrated Lebaran Ketupat — or Lebaran Topat as it is locally called — by visiting the graves of Muslim preachers before partaking in recreational activities together with other families.

“Lebaran Topat is celebrated in some regions in Indonesia, but in Lombok, especially West Lombok, it is special because it is well-preserved. This is true even though the regency administration does not coordinate it,” West Lombok Deputy Regent Fauzan Khalid said on Monday at the official opening of the ceremony at Duduk beach, just a kilometer to the south of Senggigi, the popular tourist center.

This year’s ceremony centered on three locations; Duduk beach in Batulayar district, Cemara beach in Lembar district and Kuranji beach in Labuapi district.

Entertainment ranging from music performances to ketupat cooking competitions to shared meals were on offer during the celebration, where ketupat was served as the main dish. Side dishes at the events varied, ranging from pelecing kangkung (stir-fried water spinach) to the local dish of Taliwang chicken.

“Apart from its value as an expression of gratitude, Lebaran Topat is also an occasion for building friendship,” Fauzan said.

Local religious figure Tuan Guru Syamsi said that the essence of the Lebaran Topat celebration was to show gratitude to God after successfully completing the monthlong fast during Ramadhan and the six-day fast following Idul Fitri.

Separately, local cultural observer Jalaluddin Arzaki said that the celebration was part of “adat dwirgami”, a local tradition that had been passed on by ancestors living in a time that predated the arrival of Islam.

“In the past, Islamic preaching was resisted if it did not accommodate local culture,” Jalaluddin said.

Meanwhile, in Semarang, Central Java, Lebaran Ketupat, or as it is called locally, Bada Kupat, was celebrated by cooking and serving ketupat and lepet (steamed sticky rice cooked in plaited palm leaves).

Ahmadi, a ketupat container seller at the Bulu market in Semarang, said that a collection of 10 ketupat containers were selling for between Rp 7,500 and Rp 10,000.

In Kudus regency, Central Java, Bada Kupat had become a tourist attraction. There, celebrations were held at number of places, such as in Colo, Bulusan and Lomban in Mejobo district.

In Colo, the celebration featured a parade of gunungan (cone-shape offering) made of ketupat, lepet and other food items on the slope of Mount Muria near the grave of noted Muslim preacher Sunan Muria.

“This is a tradition that shows respect to Sunan Muria,” said Kudus Regency Tourism and Culture Agency head Sancaka Dwi Supani, adding that the celebration was entitled ‘The Parade of A Thousand Kupat”.


On the slope of Mount Merapi in Boyolali regency, also in Central Java, the celebration featured a parade of livestock wearing ketupat as necklaces.

source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/05/muslims-celebrate-lebaran-ketupat-a-week-after-idul-fitri.html

Tradition of Celebrating Lebaran Ketupat - Gorontalo

Celebrating Idul Fitri: Jockeys compete in a bull race in Java Tondano village, Gorontalo regency, on Monday. The three-day race event, which was organized to celebrate Lebaran Ketupat (the seventh day after Idul Fitri) in the Javanese community, ended on Wednesday. JP/Syamsul Huda M. Suhari

Some Muslim communities have their own traditions to celebrate Lebaran Ketupat, which is held a week after Idul Fitri to commemorate the conclusion of an extra six days of fasting following Idul Fitri.

The Tondano Javanese (Jaton) ethnic community in Gorontalo, for example, celebrates by conducting annual horse races and cow races. This year the three-day race event that ended on Wednesday was held at the racing arena and golf course in Yosonegoro subdistrict, Gorontalo regency.

“This year’s event was merrier because we had more participants,” said Alwin Dunda, chairman of the Gorontalo Horse Sport Association (Pordasi) and member of the race’s organizing committee.

He said 43 horses joined the race. They came from Gorontalo and other neighboring provinces, including Central Sulawesi, North Sulawesi and South Sulawesi. 

The prizes varied, ranging from cash to some racing horses and cows. 

Alwin said the annual horse races were first introduced in the 1960s and continued to expand in the 1980s after the regency administration decided to include them in the official calendar of events. Today, the races have become a tourist attraction. 

“Most Gorontalo people have indeed long been lovers of horse races,” he said.

The first day of the horse race was attended by thousands of enthusiastic spectators who cheered the jockeys and called out the names of the horses. 

Krisman and Nurhayati Limonu, a couple that lives in Gorontalo, said they have never missed a single horse race held for the Lebaran Ketupat celebration. 

“We feel as if something is missing if we do not come to the race,” Krisman said.

The Jaton ethnic group live in a number of subdistricts in Gorontalo, which include Yosonegoro, Reksonogoro, Kalioso and Mulyonegoro. 

During Lebaran Ketupat, they usually open their homes for guests to enjoy various special dishes with ketupat (steamed rice cooked in a diamond-shaped container made of plaited coconut leaves) taking center stage as the main course.

“Everyone is welcome to take all he or she can eat. This has been a tradition for years here,” Hassan 

Pulukadang, a resident of Yosonegoro said.

The Jaton ethnic group initially came about as the result of marriages between Javanese men and Tondano women. 

The community was formed after the arrival of Indonesian hero Kyai Mojo and his followers, who 

were exiled from Java by the Dutch colonial administration. Mojo and his followers finally settled in Tondano and their descendants grew into the ethnic group currently known as the Jaton.

The ethnic group developed a unique language that is actually a mixture of the Javanese and Tondano languages. The new language, however, can barely be understood by either the Javanese or the indigenous Tondano people.

Anthropologist Basri Amin of Gorontalo State University said the descendants of Kyai Mojo and his men, who originally came from Yogyakarta, Surakarta and Demak, had spread almost evenly across Sulawesi Island since 1902. They moved to Gorontalo for the first time in 1925. 

He said Lebaran Ketupat was a legacy from the Yogyakarta and Surakarta kingdoms, whose traces could still be found in the Jaton villages in Gorontalo.

“Ketupat unites many things beautifully, peacefully and deliciously. Rice, coconut milk and various spices are united in plaited coconut leaves,” he said.

source: http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2014/08/07/horse-race-gives-color-lebaran-ketupat.html