ANNUALLY SEKATEN CEREMONY IN YOGYAKARTA

How are you friend? Just wanna show how wonderful thing could you find in Jogja. Not just many place of interest here, but also so much great occasion for you. And now, I'll tell you about Sekaten.

The Sekaten Festival of Yogyakarta began as an Islamic religious activity held from 5th to 15th of the Javanese month Mulud, in the regency of Demak Bintoro several centuries ago. Its initial purpose was to commemorate the birth of the Prophet Muhammad.

The religious leaders (wali) held a meeting in Masjid Agung Demak, a great mosque built by Raden Patah, the adipati (regent) of Demak Bintoro regency in the year of 1939 aaka or 1477 AD. They decided to improve the promulgation of Islam through celebrating the birthday of Prophet Muhammad for seven days. The Demak Bintoro regency eventually became an Islamic Kingdom and Raden Patah was crowned as the first Sultan.

The religious leaders involved Hinduism because at that time there were still many people who were Hindu-Buddhist, the religion professed by most Majapahit people. Majapahit was the last Hindu-Buddhist Kingdom in Java. Moslem leaders realised that people of Majapahit were still very fond of Hindu Javanese traditional arts such as the gamelan orchestra and Hindu rituals. They decided to use the Javanese musical instrument to celebrate the Prophet's birthday, so gamelan were placed in the yard of the Great Mosque.

Hearing the gamelan orchestra, people from all directions came to the town centre to enjoy the music. This religious activity was called Sekaten, and was then continued by the Islamic Kingdom of Mataram, situated in the territory now known as Daerah Istimewa Yogyakarta or Yogyakarta Special Region.

Through the Sekaten, religious leaders introduced Islam to the visitors. Whenever people entered the mosque porch, they were required to pronounce a confession of creed called syahadat, syahadatain or sahadat kalimah loro. In the Great Mosque yard they were told to wash their hands, faces and feet with water from the pond outside. Nowadays, the Sekaten tradition has developed into a traditional festival involving thousands of people, and both domestic and foreign tourists. People believe that the term Sekaten originated from Syahadatain.

The festival has become the pride of the Sultan and people of Yogyakarta, for it makes a meaningful contribution to the feature of the Special Region as a unique cultural tourism centre.

Try to have some yogyakarta tour to see this annually moment. It's only the in jogja. Have a nice accasion..!