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Amid the winds of change
Ahoy: Sailors crew boats as part of the Kolokie ritual during the Legu Gam celebration
Ahoy: Sailors crew boats as part of the Kolokie ritual during the Legu Gam celebration.
The Ternate sultanate in Maluku has played an important role in the history of Indonesia.
In its heyday, the sultanate was a magnet for Portuguese and Spanish colonists who were eager to fight and die for the chance to control its strategic position and natural resources.
Ternate also has its place in the anti-colonial struggle of the republic: Sultan Babullah, who waged an all-out struggle in the 16th century to defend the sovereignty the sultanate against the European colonial invasion, was proclaimed a National Hero by the government.
The sultanate has continued to the present day, providing a source of traditional wisdom that has buttressed the local community and local culture ' and which gives a unique color to dynamic change in eastern Indonesian.
By combining a royal heritage with technology and contemporary society, the sultanate has been working with the people and the government to advance Ternate.
This was noticeable in the recent Legu Gam Cultural Festival, which recently completed its 13th iteration.
Celebrating the 79th birthday of the Sultan Mudaffar Sjah, the Legu Gam Cultural Festival was an occasion for local residents to express their gratitude for the blessings bestowed on their lives so far through ritual ceremonies.
Preserving the ancestral wisdom, local residents have become an inspiration for indigenous culture and tradition amid the onslaught of economic globalization.
' Text and photos by JP/Jerry Adiguna
