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Jakarta Post

Wedding of Jokowi’s daughter to showcase cultural festivities

Unique and vibrant cultural rituals are set to elevate the marriage procession of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s daughter Kahiyang Ayu and her fiancé Bobby Afif Nasution, as it will show the cheer and exuberance of wedding traditions from the couple’s respective ethnic backgrounds, Java and Batak

Apriadi Gunawan and Ganug Nugroho Adi (The Jakarta Post)
Medan/Surakarta
Thu, November 2, 2017

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Wedding of Jokowi’s daughter to showcase cultural festivities

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nique and vibrant cultural rituals are set to elevate the marriage procession of President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo’s daughter Kahiyang Ayu and her fiancé Bobby Afif Nasution, as it will show the cheer and exuberance of wedding traditions from the couple’s respective ethnic backgrounds, Java and Batak.

It appears that with the wedding ceremony, Jokowi will once again show his love of Indonesia’s cultural diversity.

Gibran Rakabuming Raka, Jokowi’s oldest son who also serves as spokesperson for Jokowi’s family during this special occasion, said wedding preparations were 100 percent complete and 8,000 invitations had been printed for the ceremony, scheduled for Nov. 8.

“The wedding invitations are printed and half of them have been sent to our guests. When the invitations have been printed, that usually means preparations are completed. We are just waiting for the event to take place,” Gibran said on Sunday.

Not only state officials and family members were invited, as the couple’s friends and members of volunteer groups that supported Jokowi are also slated to attend the wedding, he said.

The special event’s complete guest list is reportedly twice as long as that of Gibran’s nuptials two years ago.

Each invitee will receive as a wedding souvenir a glass jewelry box adorned with a batik motif.

Gibran said 500 of these hexagonal jewelry boxes had been ordered from Risang Aji Art Glass, a handicraft showroom owned by Mintorogo, a glass craftsman from Surakarta, Central Java.

The Kahiyang-Bobby wedding will follow the Surakarta-style Javanese tradition of wearing two different costumes in two separate ceremonies.

Endang Soendari Sumaryono, the couple’s make-up artist, said Kahiyang would wear a Solo Putri wedding dress during the ijab kabul (wedding vows), before switching into a dodot (Javanese wedding gown) for the evening reception.

The wedding venue, Graha Saba Buana in Surakarta, is set to boast classic Javanese embellishments, courtesy of Asmoro Dekorasi, the same company placed in charge of decorating Gibran’s wedding to Silvi Ananda.

In addition, six wedding coaches have been prepared for the couple’s families; four are owned by the Surakarta administration, while the remaining two belong to Jokowi.

“All of the coaches are ready. Twelve horses will draw the coaches, which will be driven by 20 coachmen,” said Anwar Muhtad, 76, who was entrusted to handle the wedding coaches.

Unable to hide his joy, Jokowi told journalists at his home in Surakarta on Sunday that preparations for his daughter’s wedding were finished.

“The witness from our [side of the family] is Pak Jusuf Kalla, and for Bobby, it’s Pak Darmin Nasution,” he said, referring to the Vice President and the coordinating economic minister, respectively.

Bobby’s family in Medan, North Sumatra, said they, too, were ready for the big day.

After their wedding ceremony, Kahiyang and Bobby will take part in a two-day Mandailing cultural procession called haroroan boru, a ceremony held by the groom’s family in Medan to welcome the bride.

Bakti Lubis, one of the procession’s organizing committee members, said that during the haroroan boru on Nov. 24 to 25, Kahiyang would be given the “Siregar” marga (Batak clan name), which belongs to Bobby’s mother.

Traditional titles will later be presented to the couple.

“The titles will be given in a ceremony held on Nov. 25. We don’t know yet what titles we will give them,” Bakti told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.

The granting of these titles will be marked with a symbolic procession called mangulosi, or the extending of ulos (Batak traditional fabric).

“Kahiyang and Bobby will perform the Tor-tor Somba dance at the end of the haroroan boru procession to show their gratitude to their parents as they start to build their own family,” said Bakti.

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