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| Traditional musician: La Made from Wakantolalo, Southeast Sulawesi, plays the gambus guitar at the cultural fiesta. |
This week
the Southeast Sulawesi port city of Bau-Bau hosted the biannual Festival Kraton
Nusantara.
To kick off
the event, young ladies of the one-time Butonese kingdom of Wolio welcomed the
60 plus visiting royal families last Saturday with a traditional feast called
pekakandekanden, meaning “eat and eat” in the local dialect.
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| Ready to save: A Butonese Palace guard leads the royal procession. |
And the row upon row of picnic blankets laid deep in platters of traditional Butonese dishes including curried crab and eggs, sweet onde-onde and lapapa (red and white rice steamed in banana leaves) were invitation enough to join in the celebration.
As per
Butonese tradition, the ladies, dressed in chiffon, velvet and silk, served the
grand homemade buffets free of charge with the condition that they hand-feed
the first bite to each diner.
Begun in
1997, Festival Kraton Nusantara brings together royalty from across the
Indonesian archipelago every two years to celebrate traditional arts and
culture.
This year,
the event drew over 60 sultans and rajas from Sumatra to West Papua. With the
royal entourages came dancers, musicians and craftsmen who demonstrated the
richness of Indonesia’s traditions.
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| Cheerful leader: A royal from Lombok was one of many who enjoyed the Kraton Nusantara Festival in Bau- Bau, South Sulawesi. |
After the pekakandekanden of the first night, the following three days in Bau-Bau served as cultural showcases of craft, dance and cuisine from all over Indonesia.
On Sunday, the gathered royalty proceeded from the historic kraton down to a newly reclaimed beachfront area where performances, dancing and musical performances commenced.
Monday was
reserved for Indonesia’s rich cuisines, and on Tuesday festival organizers
selected the host for the festival in 2014.
While many
may consider Indonesia’s monarchial period now a part of history, some of the
gathered royalty were quick to point out that this was not just a pageant of
the arts.
As
22-year-old Princess Ratu Nur Alya Roza Syahoeri from Kanoman Keraton of
Cirebon remarked, “With the festival, we are tightening the bonds between
palaces, families … Indonesians.”
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| Entertaining: A dance group from Sumedang, West Java, rehearses outside their hotel. |
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| Take a break: A young lady massages her mother’s sore feet before they serve a traditional Butonese meal to the royal entourages and other guests. This mother, along with many other ladies, had spent the last two days preparing the special foods. |
— Photos by
Brian Orland and Melati Kaye
nice little article with nice pictures. Doanld Tick Holland We met at the FKN VIII
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