Agung was making his group’s uniform for the Tanoker Stilts Festival, which was held by the Tanoker Community and entered its 10^th year on Sept. 21.

Along with hundreds of children from Ledokombo in East Java’s Jember, Agung looked quite skillful with both his feet on stilts. With 10 other children on his team, Agung performed choreographed moves to a song.

According to Ciciek Farha, founder of Tanoker Community, the festival was a collaboration between the Ledokombo administration and its residents.

“It has always been assumed that a village is a place with stigmas, such as backwardness, passiveness and a slowness to adjust,” Ciciek told The Jakarta Post.

“Based on experience in Ledokombo, this is far from the truth. The festival is mainly run by the youth and it aims to fulfill the rights of children and seniors with a cultural approach.”

The festival is themed “Honoring the Peaceful Village” to highlight its resources in humans, nature and the economy. “If the residents organize themselves in the right direction, we hope that the youth who are pursuing education in Jakarta will come back and develop the village.”

Ciciek said a strong, peaceful village would protect its residents from trafficking agents and extremism.

Jember Regent Faida said the festival started because of the Ledokombo residents themselves. “When residents initiate something such as this festival, it will most likely last for good,” she said.

“The administration will do our work to support it. We view culture as one of the tools to communicate peace in the world.”

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“Most importantly, the festival is a place for Jember to be a host to friends from other cities, such as Malang, Tangerang, Tulungagung and Probolinggo,” she added.

She noted how children’s wishes were put into paintings that depict peaceful schools, a clean and green city and public parks all over the town.

“Stilts are a symbol of a social change,” said Ciciek. “They are traditional and something that has been forgotten, but in the festival, they manage to enliven the children and make them move forward.”  

The festival, which kicked off in July, featured a number of competitions such as those for coloring, stilts, painting and murals. The highlight was when 15 teams showed their dance skills on accessory-adorned stilts to the beat of percussion instruments.

Present at the event was a team of judges comprising Sawyer Martin French (United States), Alex McCarthy (Malaysia-US) and Sarah Marsso (France).

Afterward, a forum was held with 50 female religious figures from East Java as participants. They shared their experience in preventing and handling gender-based violence and discussed strengthening the families of migrant workers.

The festival also introduced seven destinations where travelers can learn about initiating peace, such as Kopi At-Tanwir Islamic School, Kho-kho Batik and Tanoker.

The mascots of the festival were Kacong and Genduk, a boy who represents hard work and a girl who symbolizes persistence.

Ciciek said the festival’s journey toward peace and fulfilling the rights of children, seniors and women, along with making Ledokombo a learning society, would require more cooperation.

“Peace needs to be prioritized as it is needed at every level, from personal relations in families, in villages and upward to the global level.” (wng)