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 ;)