Long and winding road: A villager carries food to the Sadranan ceremony.

Against the backdrop of a thin veil of mist and the magnificent Merapi and Merbabu mountains, the residents of Genting Cepogo village in Boyolali, Central Java, marched to their ancestral cemetery on May 4 to participate in the Sadranan.

Sadranan is the local ritual that pays homage to the villagers’ forbears.

Adult men carried tenong (a traditional container filled with food and snacks) in the ritual, which welcomed the advent of Ramadhan through praying for their ancestors while it also maintained the villagers’ bond of kinship and preserved their tradition.

Genting Cepogo senior villager Suparno said the ritual ceremony had been practiced through the generations.

Local Muslims and Christians alike took part in the ceremony. The mutual respect that the Genting Cepogo villagers have long demonstrated serves as a model of religious harmony worthy of imitation.

As the villagers gathered at the cemetery, they performed shalawatan (mass prayer), reciting verses from the Koran. A feast then followed, with the villagers savoring the foods and snacks they had brought.

At noon, visitors from neighboring villages and other nearby towns arrived to greet the local community.

Welcoming Ramadhan: A woman prepares food for the Sadranan ceremony.

Getting social: Villagers mingle, eat and chat with one another during the Sadranan ceremony.

Religious harmony: Muslims from Genting Cepogo village in Boyolali, East Java, carry food past a church for the Sadranan ceremony, which is traditionally held ahead of the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Childhood memories: Kids from the village play around and have fun with one another during the Sadranan ceremony.

— Photos by Maksum Nur Fauzan