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Images: Syawalan, a big feast and abundant blessings
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Signature dance: A dancer performs the Seblang dance while in a trance as part of an annual ritual in Olehsari village, Banyuwangi, East Java. (JP/Aman Rocman)
R
esidents in various cities across Java welcomed Syawal, the first month of the Islamic calendar, by holding various merry festivities over the weekend.
Held about seven days after Idul Fitri, a typical Syawalan celebration would feature a parade of people carrying gunungan in the form of heaped platters of food or ketupat rice cakes neatly arranged to resemble a mountain. The food would be eaten together at the end of the procession.
Read also: Celebrating Idul Fitri the Indonesian way
At home, people would cook ketupat to be served with opor ayam (chicken braised in coconut milk) or lodeh (Javanese vegetable soup in coconut milk). Meanwhile, residents in the coastal area in Jepara celebrated Syawalan by floating agriculture produce and ketupat in the sea as an expression of gratitude and hope for more blessings.
