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Stamps Issue Series

Traditional Ceremonies

24 February  2011

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The ritual of Grebeg Syawal of Yogyakarta

Grebeg Syawal is held in Yogyakarta Palace. The event is held to coincide 1 Syawal. The event itself is centered on the north square of Yogyakarta and move toward to the Mosque Gede of Yogyakarta Palace.

Lanang mountains (male mountains of crops) are made of vegetables and other crops escorted by ten bregada (unitary force) soldiers taken to Mosque Gede of Ngayogyakarta palace.

The lanang mountains (male mountains of crops) become seizure of society, this procession is preceded with a prayer for the community welfare and safety by the headman of the Mosque Gede Kauman.

Within minutes, all the crops that is served in the lanang mountains grabs out of the masses. In the same time in the ward Tratag of Yogyakarta Palace, Sungkeman Ngabekten ceremony is being held followed by the people of Yogyakarta. As for the palace courtiers and relatives, Sungkeman against the Sultan will be held the next day. This ceremony has become a traditional of Yogyakarta Palace.

The ritual of Ngaben of Bali

Ngaben is cremation or cremation of Hindus in Bali. Ngaben is a ritual  performed to send the bodies to the next life.

Bodies should be placed in his sleep, the body's corpse is placed a coffin. The coffin is placed in the sarcophagus that resembles to an ox, or in container temple-shaped made of wood and paper. The sarcophagus that resembles to an ox or temple shaped is taken to the cremation place through a procession.

The peak of Ngaben ceremony is the burning of the entire structure (Ox or monasteries made of wood and paper), along with corpes. The fire is needed to liberate the spirit from the body and facilitate the reincarnation.

Ngaben is not always performed immediately. For the high caste members, it is reasonable to perform this ritual within 3 days. But far the lower castes members, the body was buried first and then cremated in a group toa village.

The ritual of Pasala, Sumba from East Nusa Tenggara

Pasola is a game of agility of throwing javelin made of wood to each other on a horse that is being driven hard by two opposing groups. Pasola is part of traditional ceremonies performed by the people of Sumba still adhered to the original religion called Marapu (local religious communities sumba). Pasola games is held in four villages in West Sumba district, they are Kodi, Lambaya, Wanokaka, and Gaura. Pasola is performed in the four villages in turn between February and March each year.

The ritual of Tiwah, Dayak of Central Kalimantan

Tiwah is the procession of delivery of relatives ancestors spirits who have passed away by purifying and moving the remains of the body from the grave into a place called sandung.

According to Kahirangan the death of a family cause Pali that can only be removed by a ceremonial mapalas Pali called tiwah. Tiwah ceremony is being performed, because the Pali can lead to bad consequences for personal lives, families, communities and even the environment, as well as for the late, in order to clear the way towards a glorious place that God provided through tiwah ceremony.

Tiwah ceremony is the last of the ceremonial procession of a person's death, which begins with Mangubur ceremony, which brings the corpse to the cemetery. Then the ceremony of Tantulak Ambun Rutas Matel aims to deliver- Liau balawang panjang ganan bereng to a place called Lewu Balo Indu rangkang Penyang. This is a place of waiting while supposedly located an the third stage of heaven. The last ceremony is tiwah that reunify the three spirits before and deliver them to Heaven, known as Lewu Tatau.