Cempaka Culture and Tourism: Lake Toba Renaissance Festival

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“… The Shift in Human Nature

You're starting to see integrity change. Awareness recalibrates integrity, and the Human Being who would sit there and take advantage of another Human Being in an old energy would never do it in a new energy. The reason? It will become intuitive, so this is a shift in Human Nature as well, for in the past you have assumed that people take advantage of people first and integrity comes later. That's just ordinary Human nature.

In the past, Human nature expressed within governments worked like this: If you were stronger than the other one, you simply conquered them. If you were strong, it was an invitation to conquer. If you were weak, it was an invitation to be conquered. No one even thought about it. It was the way of things. The bigger you could have your armies, the better they would do when you sent them out to conquer. That's not how you think today. Did you notice?

Any country that thinks this way today will not survive, for humanity has discovered that the world goes far better by putting things together instead of tearing them apart. The new energy puts the weak and strong together in ways that make sense and that have integrity. Take a look at what happened to some of the businesses in this great land (USA). Up to 30 years ago, when you started realizing some of them didn't have integrity, you eliminated them. What happened to the tobacco companies when you realized they were knowingly addicting your children? Today, they still sell their products to less-aware countries, but that will also change.

What did you do a few years ago when you realized that your bankers were actually selling you homes that they knew you couldn't pay for later? They were walking away, smiling greedily, not thinking about the heartbreak that was to follow when a life's dream would be lost. Dear American, you are in a recession. However, this is like when you prune a tree and cut back the branches. When the tree grows back, you've got control and the branches will grow bigger and stronger than they were before, without the greed factor. Then, if you don't like the way it grows back, you'll prune it again! I tell you this because awareness is now in control of big money. It's right before your eyes, what you're doing. But fear often rules. …”

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Lake Toba Renaissance Festival

Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Parapat, North Sumatra | Sat, 12/04/2010

Two tourist buses carrying visitors from the Netherlands stopped asmarching bands from various regions in North Sumatra and Aceh paraded to the Pagoda open stage in Parapat, near Lake Toba, Sumatra.

Holy dance: A young man eats offerings as part of the
Tor Tor Tunggal Panaluan sacred dance during the
opening of the Lake Toba Festival in October. The
dance is performed to ask the gods to make the
traditional fiesta run smoothly.

Captivated, some of the tourist stepped off the bus to watch the action more closely.

The Dutch tourists looked happy as they were feasting their eyes on the procession by the end of North Sumatra’s annual Lake Toba Festival.

“It’s exciting! The bands’ performance is indeed entertaining,” said Rob, one of the Dutch visitors.

Thirty-four marching bands, mostly comprising students, highlighted the conclusion of this year’s five-day lake festival late October in Parapat, where thousands of local and foreign tourists packed the road leading to the Pagoda open stage.

Unfortunately, the event’s organizing committee didn’t prepare well enough for the overwhelming public interest by providing proper and adequate parking space, therefore many tourist missed the festival’s closing where Regional Representative Council Chairman Irman Gusman’s performed percussions.

For kids: Boys participate in a rowing competition
as part of the Lake Toba festival.

Various traditional and cultural attractions were presented during the festival, along with sports contests like running, gliding, and X-Treme Lake Toba Trail Adventure, in which hundreds of participants from different provinces and abroad explored Parapat, Pematang Siantar and Samosir near Lake Toba for three days.

The new sports activities in this festival, while warmly welcomed by visitors, were described by local people as contributing very little to a sustainable tourism industry in Lake Toba, because most of the committee’s programs this year were not oriented toward the lake’s existence.

A Lake Toba community figure, James Sinaga, said he embraced the committee’s innovations but regretted the exclusion of some of the festival’s activities typically seen in the past.

“The festival has lost its soul, without Solu Bolon or a mass rowing competition in the lake. It used to be the icon of the festival,” he said to The Jakarta Post.

James Sinaga also noted long-distance swimming in the lake was missing from this year’s line-up of activities. Committee Chairman Parlindungan Purba claimed the Lake Toba festival had been a success this year, and had invigorated the local economy despite its shortcomings, which he regarded as normal for a big event.

“We wish to revive Lake Toba’s heyday through this festival,” said Parlindungan, adding this objective was in line with the theme adopted, “Renaissance of Lake Toba”.

To date, 31 annual festivals have been held in Lake Toba since 1979. Regional Representative Council Chairman Irman Gusman hoped that these festivals would help make Lake Toba an asset and great tourist magnet for people visiting North Sumatra, especially the tourist zone around this largest lake in Indonesia.

For God: Women perform Tor Tor Tunggal Panaluan
sacred dance during the Lake Toba Festival

“Lake Toba has an amazing history so we can transform it a major asset that will attract visitors,” said Irman in his closing address.

According to him, Lake Toba has great potential for promotion all over the world.

It just needed all competent authorities to bring out its top potential as Indonesia’s, even Southeast Asia’s, biggest lake.

National Economic Committee Chairman Chairul Tanjung, who also attended the closing ceremony, said 7 million foreign tourists were expected to visit all parts of Indonesia in, consisting of 5 million visitors to Bali and 2 million to various other tourist spots, including Lake Toba.

Chairul expressed optimism about an increasing number of foreign tourists coming to Lake Toba in the future.

“We predict 30 percent of the target of 70 million foreign vacationers in Indonesia in 2030 may be visiting Lake Toba,” added Chairul Tanjung.

— Photos by JP/Apriadi Gunawan