Indonesia is a country
that rich in various traditional ceremonies. Every year, on the 1st
- 10th of Muharram (Islamic calendar) Bengkulu society always carry on
Tabot Festival, which is the culture of the people as the traditional
ceremonies. In 2014, the Government of Bengkulu Province again held the
festival with local wisdom based. The ceremonies will take place on 24 October
to 3 November 2014.
Tabot in the holy book
of Islam is defined as a chest containing the Torah. Israel people at the time
believed that they would get lucky and kindness if this Tabot appears to be in
the hands of their leaders. Instead, they will get a disaster when it was gone.
Tabot is similar form
stretcher rectangular mosque with ornaments. To create Tabot, it is required
materials and tools such as bamboo, rattan, paper carton, paper mar-mar, grip
paper, rope, knife carving, drawing tools, flashlight, decorative lights,
plastic flowers and much more. When viewed from many fixtures to be used, the
cost of making Tabot could reach US$ 450-4000.
 |
| image source: indonesia.travel/id |
Tabot has been done as
community celebration of Bengkulu (family descent Tabot) since the 14th
century. This event was held to commemorate the death of Imam Hussain, grandson
of Prophet Muhammad, who died in Karbala, Iraq. Bengkulu community believes if
this celebration is not held, there will be a calamity or disaster. Therefore,
Tabot Festival will be filled with a series of ritual activities and colossal.
The opening of Tabot
Festival will be performed at Merdeka Square, the city of Bengkulu, on October
24, 2014. One of the interesting parts of the show is on its rituals. Ritual
procession held until October 25th. This ritual is performed in
several stages, namely: making ceremonial ground, sitting penja, menjara,
meradai, biting and tabot wasted. To add more interest to the Tabot festival,
the festival will also be packed with art performances, traditional folk games
and exhibitions.
In the procession, there
is also a feast or ritual offerings. Ritual offerings typically use glutinous
rice, golden banana, ginger, dadeh, brown sugar, granulated sugar, coconut,
chicken, meat, spices, incense and others. To accompany Tabot Festival,
Bengkulu society still preserving traditional musical instruments such as dol
and Tessa. Dol is a drum made of wood and covered with cow skin, while Tessa
is similar to the tambourine, made of iron, copper or aluminum.
The main event will be
held on 2 and 3 November 2014. This is the ninth and tenth days of the Tabot Festival.
In this main event, Tabot ritual of the 17 groups will be coupled together to
be paraded in a carnival rituals tabot colossal building. The procession tabot
released by the Governor of Bengkulu to the general cemetery Karabela, as the
place where Imam Senggolo pioneers buried Tabot ceremony.
.jpg)
 Bengku...){kind=link}