Indonesia’s first ever stilt festival

Giant steps toward harmony: The children of Ledokombo join the town’s first annual stilt festival.JP/James Walsh

Teams of school children paraded as giants in Indonesia’s first ever stilt festival in the village of Ledokombo, East Java last Saturday. Local youth group “Tanoker” — a Madurese word meaning “cocoon” — hosted the community event, supported by the Ledokombo local council and the Jember tourism board.

The day’s festivities included a painting competition, a souvenir design competition and the main event — a stilt performance competition, attended by 152 children on bamboo stilts in homemade costumes.

Walking on bamboo stilts is a traditional children’s game in East Java, with variations on the game found throughout the archipelago. Opening the event, Ledokombo district head Sidartawan K SH praised Tanoker’s initiative of promoting traditional games to build community relations, despite the growing influence of modern children’s activities such as watching television or playing video games.

Event coordinator Farha Ciciek commented that by building friendships among children from different ethnic and social backgrounds through activities such as playing and performing together, Tanoker hopes to strengthen the community of Ledokombo and prevent conflict arising between groups with different languages and values, such as the Javanese and Madurese people in East Java.

“If you change the attitudes of the children, then you can change the attitudes of their teachers and parents as well,” she said. Tanoker hopes to expand the festival in years to come, including international performances to strengthen both global and local friendships.