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Offerings, temple cleansing mark Imlek
Imlek delicacies: Manisan (sweetened fruits) seller Edwin (right) waits for buyers at his Kedai Manisan Sedap kiosk at Pasar Ramai market in Medan on Monday
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span class="inline inline-center">Imlek delicacies: Manisan (sweetened fruits) seller Edwin (right) waits for buyers at his Kedai Manisan Sedap kiosk at Pasar Ramai market in Medan on Monday. Sweetened fruits are among the special delicacies, some imported from China, which are served during the Chinese New Year celebrations. - JP/Nurni Sulaiman
Indonesians, especially those of Chinese descent, will celebrate Chinese New Year, known locally as Imlek, with diverse activities ranging from parades of offerings to cleansing temples.
Residents of Surakarta, Central Java, have already enjoyed the Grebeg Sudiro offerings parade held annually at least a week prior to Imlek.
Pasar Gedhe, near where the Kelenteng Tien Kok Sie temple is located and part of Sudiroprajan village, is the focus of the Grebeg Sudiro celebration from year to year.
The Surakarta village is predominantly ethnic Chinese and every Imlek thousands of lanterns decorate the area a month prior to the big event.
'Thousands of moon cakes are distributed to the community, which is a special part of Grebeg Sudiro,' said Sudiroprajan village chief Dalina on Sunday.
A total of around 4,000 moon cakes, including those contained in Jaler and Estri mound offerings, were up for grabs by residents.
This year, the moon cake mounds were led by around 130 characters from the legendary Chinese Sun Go Kong tale, and included Barongsai lion dancers and Reog troupes.
The Grebeg Sudiro procession began at 1 p.m. but residents who wished to watch the parade started arriving at 11 a.m.
As they waited they hung out at the Benteng Vastenburg Fort area located close to the main venue, around 100 meters from the iconic Pasar Gedhe market.
'If you arrived late, you wouldn't see much of the proceedings,' said Reni, who arrived with her friends from Sukoharjo.
The procession kicked off from Pasar Gedhe, located in Sudiroprajan and then passed along Jl. Jenderal Sudirman, Jl. Mayor Sunaryo, Jl. Kapten Mulyadi, Jl. R.E. Martadinata, Jl. Cut Nyak Dien, Jl. Ir. H. Juanda, Jl. Jenderal Urip Sumoharjo and wound up in Pasar Gedhe.
The procession ended at Pasar Gedhe at around 3 p.m. but the mounds of offerings were no longer intact as they were subject to jostling by residents along the way before the parade had completed.
Meanwhile, in Medan, North Sumatra, on Friday a number of temples were getting ready to spruce up temples and clean statues of goddesses in preparation for the arrival of Imlek, which falls on Feb. 19.
Scores of ethnic Chinese from the Buddhist and Confucian communities swarmed the temples and voluntarily cleaned the statues and temple paraphernalia.
The women volunteers cleaned statues of female goddesses while the men cleaned statues of the male gods.
A Confucian follower at the Gunung Timur Temple, Amin Wijono, 58, said the cleansing activities were carried out once a year ahead of Imlek. Wijono added that the annual ritual was carried out painstakingly.
Wijono said the purification of the goddess statues was usually carried out after the 'spirit' of the goddesses was released into the sky.
He added that they had performed the ritual to release the spirits at the Gunung Timur Temple in Medan on Feb. 12.
He said every activity in the ceremony was carried out by those who had devoted their lives to the temple for a long time, and those who were vegetarians.
'We believe only vegetarians should purify the statues ahead of Imlek,' Wijono told The Jakarta Post at the temple.
