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Colorful market in Semarang welcomes Chinese New Year
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People walk along a lantern lane at the annual Semawis bazaar in Semarang, Central Java, held to welcome Chinese New Year, on Jan. 24. (JP/Suherdjoko)
S
emarang residents in Central Java enthusiastically welcome the annual Semawis bazaar, which opened on Tuesday to mark the upcoming Chinese New Year.
Some 2,000 peoples attend the event each day, said the bazaar’s Imlek culinary festival chairman, Firdaus Anggoro. “They are from out of town, as well as Semarang residents,” he said.
The bazaar, themed Pasar Obar-Abir (Colorful Market), will run until Jan. 26, two days before Imlek 2568, Year of the Rooster.
“[The colorful bazaar aims to] remind Indonesians about the meaning of pluralism,” chairman of the Kopi Semawis (Semarang Chinatown community for tourism), Harjanto Halim, said.
The bazaar committee arranged a communal dinner on a long table on Tuesday evening.
Fashion, handicraft products as well as traditional Chinese medicine could also be found at the bazaar set up in the Wotgandul Timur and Gang Pinggir areas.
Attendees can also enjoy wushu demonstrations, a barongsai lion dance, Semarang-style ketoprak theater and a potehi puppet show, as well as various talk shows.
