Indonesian Folklore: Cindelaras

Cindelaras

Folklore from East Java

Raden Putra was the king of Jenggala kingdom. He had a beautiful queen. Besides that, the king also had a beautiful concubine. Unlike the queen, the concubine had bad personalities. She was jealous with the queen, so she planned to make the queen leave the palace. By doing so, she could be the new queen.

The concubine asked the palace healer to help her do the bad plan. They told the king that the queen wanted to poison him. The king was angry. He sent the queen to a jungle. It is the punishment for her. There was one condition that the king did not know, the queen was pregnant.

After several months lived in the jungle, the queen gave birth to a healthy baby boy. She named him Cindelaras. He grew up as a nice, healthy, and handsome young man. One day, while Cindelaras helped her mother to collect some fire woods, an eagle dropped an egg. He took the egg and carefully took care of it.

The egg hatched into a chick and then it became a strong rooster. The rooster had a magical skill. It was very powerful and skillful in fighting with other roosters. Besides that, the rooster could also sing. The song was about Cindelaras and his father, Raden Putra. 

“My master is Cindelaras. He lives in the jungle. His father is a king. His name is Raden Putra.”

The rooster often sang the song.

When Cindelaras first heard that song, he ignored it. However, he could not stand it anymore. He talked to his mother about it. His mother told him the whole story. Cindelaras was very surprised. He decided to go to the palace to meet the king, his father. Cindelaras also brought his rooster to go to the palace.

On the way to go there, he met some people. They asked him to fight his rooster with their roosters. Cindelaras’ rooster won the fight. He won again and again. King Raden Putra heard the news about the great Cindelaras' rooster. So, he invited Cindelaras to the palace to fight his rooster with the king’s rooster.

The king made a bet. If Cindelaras’ rooster won the fight, he would get all king’s jewelry. However, if Cindelaras’ rooster lost, he would be punished by going to jail. The two roosters fought bravely. In just a few minutes, Cindelaras’ rooster won the fight! Then, the rooster sang the song.

The king was surprised, he asked who Cindelaras was. He then told the king about her mother living in the jungle. Later, the palace healer admitted his mistake. He said that the queen was innocent. She never tried to kill the king. The king was very angry. He ordered the concubine to be sent to jail. The king immediately went to the jungle to pick up his wife. He apologized for sending her to the jungle and made her the queen again.

(taken from http://indonesianfolklore.blogspot.com/2007/12/cindelaras-folklore-from-east-java.html with some changes)

What a Wonderful Event: Matswapati!

My school, SMAN 3 Bandung, held a cultural event titled Matswapati. Matswapati is the name of a wayang (Indonesian traditional puppet). The event took place in Lapangan Bali (Bali Field) on 27th of September. Its tagline was "Know your culture, love your country".

I was the event's decorating committee. Our works were to make concepts and decorate the whole field into a nice place for such a big event. I myself didn't think it was possible, as Lapangan Bali is usually used for SMAN 3 (and 5) Bandung's sport lessons, so there is a running track there which is full of sand. But we made it, the decorating committee. There were 66 people in the team, and by working until night, we successfully converted the field into a really nice place. It was tiring, but seeing the result made us forget about that.

My classmates during the parade. Peye is the one
who wore hijab rather than usual jilbab.

I wasn't able to go to the event, sadly, as I needed to go somewhere else on the date. One of my classmates, Annisa Permata Yudiani or Peye, said it was absolutely amazing. In the morning, there was a parade. Every class in my high school must join this. Peye was the mascot of my class' parade, she wore a costume that is usually used to dance Jaipong, a traditional dance from West Java, Indonesia.

The classes also had to set up stands in the festival from morning to evening. There was a theme for the stands, which is like the theme of the whole festival, West Java's culture. Our class, together with X IPS, XI IPS and XI Acceleration decided to put some wayangs, traditional masks and fans. My friends said they were meant to be sold but as our stand's location wasn't really strategist, no one bought any of them...

In the afternoon until evening, the event became more interesting and fascinating; it was the time for guest stars performances! There were many guest stars; some of them, of course, are cultural artists. But there were also Barsena and Glenn Fredly, popular artists of Indonesian music industry. I guess they were what made the event attractive for the visitors; as the day turned night, the event became more and more crowded.

My friends experienced a pathetic yet funny thing during the event. They bought a lot of gorengans (it's a kind of food) to be eaten, but then the food was taken by the event committees. The visitors weren't allowed to bring food or drink from outside. The food that was taken could be taken back when the visitors went out, though. So my friends took it again at the end of the event... but it was already spoiled.

Thanks for all committees for the hard work! The event was really nice, I'm looking forward for another events held by the best school in the country. Thanks for those who came that day, that was really nice of you all. We would like to see you again in our next events ;)

Ka'bah, the House of Allah SWT.

(Image source: islamic-awareness.org)

Every year more than a million people come here. (Wikipedia)

If someone asked me what country I would like to visit, I would shout the answer out loud "Saudi Arabia! Mecca!". The city has a really beautiful building, so beautiful until even a castle made of gold couldn't make people forget it. I am really sure you already know what building I'm describing is, it's Ka'bah. It is located in the center of Masjidil Haram, the most sacred masjid of Islam. It is the holiest site in Islam, we Muslims often referred to it as the House of Allah.

Muslims from all around the world visit Ka'bah every year during Dzulhijjah, the last month of Hijri calendar to do a part of hajj, tawaf (the act of walking around the Ka'bah for seven times). Hajj is the fifth pillar of Islam. It has to be done for at least once a lifetime, if one is able. The Ka'bah is also where Muslims face when performing shalat (prayers). The direction facing the Ka'bah is called the qibla.

The Ka'bah was firstly built by Adam a.s., the first person on Earth. But then it was destroyed by a flood during Nuh a.s' era. Ibrahim a.s. together with Ismail a.s., his son, was then ordered by Allah SWT. to build it again.

Kabah is a bricked cuboid structure which is made of granite quarried from nearby hills. Standing upon a 250 cm  marble base that projects outwards about 35 cm, and is approximately 13.1 m (some claim 12.03 m high, with sides measuring 11.03 m by 12.86 m. Inside the Ka'bah, the floor is made of marble and limestone. The interior walls, measuring 13 m by 9 m, are clad with tiled, white marble halfway to the roof, with darker trimmings along the floor. The floor of the interior stands about 2.2 m above the ground area where tawaf is performed. (Wikipedia)

There is one stone placed at the Ka'bah that is said to be fallen from the Heaven. It is called as Hajar Aswad, or if translated "black stone". Kissing the stone during tawaf is a sunnah. A hadist (Rasulullah’s saying) states that the colour was actually white, but people’s sins make it black.

There is a unique rumor about Ka'bah; it is said to be releasing everlasting radiation. The rumor writer claims that it is based on NASA astronauts' experience. Many Muslim scientists believe that it is a connector between Ka'bah in the Earth and the one in Heaven.

I don’t know whether the rumor is true or not, but I don't think it matters. It is Allah’s house, after all. We need to love it, to miss it, to desperately want to see it with our own eyes.

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaaba

http://edukasi.kompasiana.com/2013/10/19/asal-muasal-hajar-aswad-602019.html

http://10507276.blog.unikom.ac.id/inilah-rahasia.5cf

Olympiad Camp, An Unforgettable Experience

Hello, today I'm going to tell you about an experience I will never forget. Even, if I was offered to go back to these time, I would accept the offer happily.

A drawing made by one of my friends
in the olympiad camp.

When I was a junior high school student, my school sent me and some other friend to olympiad trainings. I write it with s, as we were sent there not only once. I joined the training 5 times, each of them was about 2-3 weeks long. The events, usually called as "Olympiad Camp", took place in SD-SMP-SMA Kharisma Bangsa Bilingual Boarding School Tangerang Selatan.

Yes, they were not in Bandung so that means I should stay in the school's dormitory.

What did I do there? I think by hearing its name, you can tell what I did. I was trained to be a good olympiad contestant; to be a winner so that I could make my school proud. The learning process was quite interesting yet frustrating; the schedule was very tight I should be studying the same subject since 07.30-21.30! It was divided into 5 sessions; the last session, 19.00-21.30, is for self-studying. In the fourth session, I usually got tests. On the last day of camp, the scores of all camp participant were ranked.

The process was interesting, but it isn't the main reason of why I love and miss the camps.

I was a Biology olympiad student. My teacher in the 1st-3rd camp was Mr. Didin Sopandi, he is very funny. Sometimes, when the camp participants were very tired, he told us jokes so that we laughed and got spirited again. On my 4th-5th camp, my teacher was Kak Roswitha Muntiyarso. She is very smart and sometimes she told jokes too. She was the bronze medalist of International Biology Olympiad 2007.

My friends there were very cheerful too, and they were the ones who made me struggle to get through my first camp. I was stressed out that time, as the materials taught were really hard. It was a heavy pressure for me.

What makes my friends there be special is that they come from all parts of Indonesia; some of them are from Yogyakarta, Depok, Sragen, Tangerang Selatan, Semarang, while the rest even come from Aceh, Padang and Kalimantan. But it also means that I'm not able to meet them often. I don't even know when I can meet them again.

The camps taught me many things, not only subjects, but also life lessons; first, I need to struggle for success. Second, when I don't believe in myself anymore, I still have Allah. With Him, I can survive anything. And the last thing is, friendship doesn't count miles. Even though all my friends are now far away from me, I know they are going to be on my side if I need them.

Every day, I thank Allah for giving me chance to join these events. They had changed my life so drastically.

These are the participants of my last camp. There were only two 9th graders; one of them was me.
The rests were all  in 10th and 11th grade. But still they were very friendly to me :)

p.y.

I have a friend, her name is Annisa Pertama Yudiani. Guess what her nickname is; it's PY (pronunciation: Peye). It's unique, isn't it? Well, "what a unique name" was my first impression about her.

We met for the first time in a school program that took place in Pesantren Babussalam. That time, our school's students were divided to sleep in some rooms and we got the same room. We, then, got together again in Rindam, also a school program. It was not long after it when I knew my father and hers know each other! My father had been asking me about her since my first day of school (by telling me her background), but I didn't know that who he meant is her. What a small world.

Now let me tell you about her. She's the first child of Yudi and Ani, that's why her last name is Yudiani. Was born in Jakarta, 12th of April, 1999, she's got two siblings; in order, a boy and a girl. I've never met her brother, if I'm not mistaken, Peye once said he's currently studying in a pesantren. Her sister is really cute; she often texts Peye by using their father's phone as she has just learned to read and write. The family lives in Arcamanik.

Peye studied in TKIT Luqmanul Hakim Bandung, and then continued her study in the school's SDIT. She spent her pre-teenage years in SMPIT Al-Kahfi Islamic Boarding School Bogor; that means she was quite far from her family. From that I know she's really independent.

Peye loves reading, watching movies, playing, travelling, listening to music, writing stories and... eating. I was really confused when I knew this, as Peye is really skinny (her weight is 37 kg!). It turns out that what she loves to eat is fried rice and Indomie...

Her favourite colours are black, white, red and bright colours. Her only idol in music industry is Avril Lavigne. By 'idol', I mean Peye knows anything about her.

She has really different passion in subjects compared to me. She loves Math and Physics (I love these too), but she hates Biology and Social Studies. "There's too many things I should memorize," she said.

Though we have different interest, inshaallah we will continue studying in the same college. She'd like to be a part of FMIPA ITB, Astronomy faculty, while I really want to study in Chemical/Eletrical Engineering. Wish us luck!