T

housands of people will join hands on Friday at the Songket Carnival in Sawahlunto, West Sumatra, to break the national record for the most people wearing traditional songket fabric attire from Silungkang, a village known for producing high-quality songket.

Sawahlunto Tourism and Culture Office head Efrianto said up to 20,000 people, including civil servants, would wear the Silungkang songket fabric colting during the carnival in an attempt to set a record at the Indonesian Museum of record (MURI).

'€œThe traditional handwoven Silungkang songket, made in Silungkang village in Sawahlunto city, has long existed and been worn by locals, so it will not be hard to get residents to wear it on that day. Participants also don'€™t need to wear new songket,'€ Efrianto said on Monday.

On the same day, 1,500 people representing government agencies, companies and villages will also take part in a parade, during which participants will be parading a replica of an award presented by the Belgian queen in 1910 to Ande Baensyah, a songket craftsman in Silungkang, for his work.

Villagers will also be parading a Rimbo bird icon, personifying the oldest songket motif made from songket fabric weighing 20 kilograms.

'€œThe parade will start at the Railway Museum and end at the Godang Rangsum Museum,'€ Afrianto said.