My school often hold annual culture festivals. The name of the event depends on the topic would be performed to the audiences. This year, i got the opportunity to attend the event named Gamarvani. It is an abbreviation from 'Gama' and 'Parvani' which means 'the journey' and 'to the moon' for each word of it. It was held on the 19th of September 2015 last Saturday and started at about 8.00 a.m until 8.00 p.m. It is held at lapangan Bali on Jalan Bali number 8. Gamarvani was the second cultural event at school. Last year, it also had a culture event named Matswapati before i moved to 3 Senior High School, Bandung. Gamarvani told us about the story of the folktale of Nyi Anteh, a woman who had gone and stay on the moon.
This festival told the audiences about our culture indirectly, especially Sundanese culture so it wouldn't disappear in extinction. Have you ever known about Sundanese traditional games such as egrang, congklak, boy-boyan and etc? Or the story of the Sundanese folktale about Nyi Anteh, the guardian of the moon? Or maybe Sundanese traditional musical instruments such as angklung, kendang, calung and the other instruments? What about the Sundanese traditional performances like Wayang Golek, Pencak Silat, Reak dance and Jaipong dance? I believe that there are some parts of it which you don't know yet really. We care about this problem. Therefore, we tried to conduct a festival which raised a topic about those kind of Sundanese culture, especially those forgotten culture (example: the story of Nyi Anteh). We wanted them to realize that our culture are interesting, too. How could we attract their attention on our culture? With a lot of performances, brochures, posters, parade and competitions as the mediator. Meanwhile, it would be a little boring if we just discuss about culture during the festival, wouldn't it? So, we added a lot of modern senses with its performances, decorations, and also food. We invited Hivi and Adera to have a show on stage and entertain the audiences. Gamarvani is actually a fusion festival between traditional and modern. So, do you still think that our culture isn't cool?
This festival told the audiences about our culture indirectly, especially Sundanese culture so it wouldn't disappear in extinction. Have you ever known about Sundanese traditional games such as egrang, congklak, boy-boyan and etc? Or the story of the Sundanese folktale about Nyi Anteh, the guardian of the moon? Or maybe Sundanese traditional musical instruments such as angklung, kendang, calung and the other instruments? What about the Sundanese traditional performances like Wayang Golek, Pencak Silat, Reak dance and Jaipong dance? I believe that there are some parts of it which you don't know yet really. We care about this problem. Therefore, we tried to conduct a festival which raised a topic about those kind of Sundanese culture, especially those forgotten culture (example: the story of Nyi Anteh). We wanted them to realize that our culture are interesting, too. How could we attract their attention on our culture? With a lot of performances, brochures, posters, parade and competitions as the mediator. Meanwhile, it would be a little boring if we just discuss about culture during the festival, wouldn't it? So, we added a lot of modern senses with its performances, decorations, and also food. We invited Hivi and Adera to have a show on stage and entertain the audiences. Gamarvani is actually a fusion festival between traditional and modern. So, do you still think that our culture isn't cool?
How did the festival begin?
Once i arrived there at Lapangan Bali, I queued tidily to have a parade and met with my friends who has been there before. I wore Sundanese traditional clothes named 'Pangsi' complete with its 'iket'. There were only 8 friends of mine including me who came to the parade. Where were the others? Yeah, i still don't know yet. Maybe they were lazy to attend it. Maybe. But, the important thing is that the attendance would be one of the component of our teachers' rating. It would affect the attendance result of our report at the end of semester. So, it was so pity to miss that. The parade took about an hour including its preparation. We were asked to walk around a track. There were also a lot of prizes for the most intent class, compared with the other groups of the parade. Could you guess what prizes they were? Yeah, happiness and joy, hehe. But that was not all. The most intent groups would be given one million Rupiahs by the committee. It was a great number of money, wasn't it? There were three champion. The first, second, and the third winner. But our group class wasn't included one of it. In other words, we did not win the competition. Is it embarrassing?
At about a half past eight in the morning after the parade finished, we watched Reak dance before entering the venue. Reak dance is unique. The dancer were covered by gunny sack and started to move. They danced with a beat background music. After the Reak dance finished, my friends and i started to enter the venue. It was not very crowded at first. We were asked to pass through a black tunnel made of fabric. There were a lot of ornaments and pictures which indirectly told us about the story. At the edge of the tunnel, i got a piece of brochure about the story of Nyi Anteh, Sundanese letters, traditional games and traditional musical instruments of West Java. I realized that the story was so much interesting.
Once i arrived there at Lapangan Bali, I queued tidily to have a parade and met with my friends who has been there before. I wore Sundanese traditional clothes named 'Pangsi' complete with its 'iket'. There were only 8 friends of mine including me who came to the parade. Where were the others? Yeah, i still don't know yet. Maybe they were lazy to attend it. Maybe. But, the important thing is that the attendance would be one of the component of our teachers' rating. It would affect the attendance result of our report at the end of semester. So, it was so pity to miss that. The parade took about an hour including its preparation. We were asked to walk around a track. There were also a lot of prizes for the most intent class, compared with the other groups of the parade. Could you guess what prizes they were? Yeah, happiness and joy, hehe. But that was not all. The most intent groups would be given one million Rupiahs by the committee. It was a great number of money, wasn't it? There were three champion. The first, second, and the third winner. But our group class wasn't included one of it. In other words, we did not win the competition. Is it embarrassing?
At about a half past eight in the morning after the parade finished, we watched Reak dance before entering the venue. Reak dance is unique. The dancer were covered by gunny sack and started to move. They danced with a beat background music. After the Reak dance finished, my friends and i started to enter the venue. It was not very crowded at first. We were asked to pass through a black tunnel made of fabric. There were a lot of ornaments and pictures which indirectly told us about the story. At the edge of the tunnel, i got a piece of brochure about the story of Nyi Anteh, Sundanese letters, traditional games and traditional musical instruments of West Java. I realized that the story was so much interesting.
Right after went out from that tunnel, i decided to walk around the venue. I saw a lot of foods and drinks! There were rows of food trucks and food stands. It was kind of temptation. What do you think you want to buy with only Rp.30.000,00 in your pocket? Could you imagine about my condition that time? I was suffering of death because of an acute starving! Not really. I just add a little dramatization.
I saw a food stands which sold 'Kabut Salju' ice cream. I was interested on it and tried to buy it with my own money. It costs Rp.20.000,00 for only one portion for people, not for me. It wasn't enough at all. The flavor was green tea. At the bottom of it, they added water with solid nitrogen. So it created a lot of smoke.
I saw a food stands which sold 'Kabut Salju' ice cream. I was interested on it and tried to buy it with my own money. It costs Rp.20.000,00 for only one portion for people, not for me. It wasn't enough at all. The flavor was green tea. At the bottom of it, they added water with solid nitrogen. So it created a lot of smoke.
It didn't stop there. While i was eating it, a lot of performances were beginning to show their ability on stage. Some of them were KPA 3 (Keluarga Paduan Angklung 3), MK3 (Musik Klasik 3) and etc. The presenters were skilled to control the emotion of the audiences and also the ceremony that automatically brought a big success for this event. I was impressed with their hard work especially the committees even they weren't paid to do all of these.
Our traditional games were played together. We held a competition to enliven the festival. All of the winners of the game would get a present for each. The present was an entrance ticket to have a recreation for free at Trans Studio Bandung or Ancol. It sounds interesting, right? But you have to beat all of your opponents to get the ticket. The games were divided into the type of the game itself. There were Congklak, Boy-boyan, Egrang and lompat tali. I joined the lompat tali competition. I had to jump without spilling out the water down. I got three chances to jump whenever all of the water spilled down. I just got only 19 jumps.
Our traditional games were played together. We held a competition to enliven the festival. All of the winners of the game would get a present for each. The present was an entrance ticket to have a recreation for free at Trans Studio Bandung or Ancol. It sounds interesting, right? But you have to beat all of your opponents to get the ticket. The games were divided into the type of the game itself. There were Congklak, Boy-boyan, Egrang and lompat tali. I joined the lompat tali competition. I had to jump without spilling out the water down. I got three chances to jump whenever all of the water spilled down. I just got only 19 jumps.
It became crowded. The time to 'close gate' has come. Then it was time for T'ST to show up. They had a drama of the story of Nyi Anteh. They were so very funny and dramatic. The audiences really enjoyed it so much. I know.
So, how did the story? Yeah, interesting. So, where should i start it from? There were two girls lived in a palace. They were princess Endahwarni and Anteh. Princess Endahwarni was the daughter of the king and the queen while Anteh was the daughter of the lady-in-waiting of the kingdom. Anteh's mother died while she was a baby. The queen raised Anteh as her own child.
Someday, when princess Endahwarni was adult enough, her parents asked her to be married by a prince from another kingdom named Anantakusuma. But the prince has fallen in love with Anteh. Unfortunately, the wedding couldn't be stopped. Finally, Anantakusuma's feeling to Anteh was known by his wife. She was full of anger and ordered Anteh to go from her palace.
Anteh was sad. She went to her mother's hometown and stay in her uncle's house overnight. She finally had a husband and helped his economy as a tailor. The dresses she made were all beautiful. She became famous. This news was heard by Endahwarni and she finally remembered about Anteh. She decided to go finding Anteh and asked her apologize. She also asked Anteh to stay back in the palace and became the palace tailor. Anteh refused it at first. But, Endahwarni forced her and offered her husband and children to live in the palace, too. Anteh finally accepted it.
Anantakusuma's love to Anteh grew bigger. When Anteh was playing with her lovely cat named Candramawat alone, He started to walk closer. He told his true feeling and asked her to be his wife, second wife i think. She refused it of course. She trying to escape from him, but he chased her. She finally prayed to God for helping her. Do you know what happened next? Suddenly, the moonlight covered her body and her cat with its rays and slowly lifted them to the moon. They stayed on the moon forever and never came back to earth. Whenever she missed her family, she knitted and made stairs from the fabric she made. But, her cat, Candramawat always teared it.
The story was amazing, right? But suddenly, there was a phone call from my aunt. She asked to me to go home. Actually i really want to watch the next performance from Adera and Hivi. But it was 6.00 p.m and the sky was going to be dark. I went out from the venue with a disappointed emotional.
Then i went to the mosque in front of my school to take a pray. But the gate was closed. I walked around to find a strategic place to pray. Then i entered to my school and decided to pray at the mosque on the third floor. It was completely dark and there wasn't someone besides me who prayed there. I tried to turn on the light and, suddenly, the light turned on. Okay. Sorry to make you curious. There wasn't any strange incident happened. Honestly, i was scared that time. But i realized that fear just only made something worse. That was one of my unforgettable moments besides Gamarvani.
Hopefully, the next culture festival will be better than Gamarvani. I also want to tell my advice to our generation to keep our culture from the extinction. And thank you very much for all of the committees who have been working on it. Your hard work was all paid off.
This is a photo of the performance of Hivi. I got it from someone else. Sorry Adera, but i don't have any photo of you.
So, how did the story? Yeah, interesting. So, where should i start it from? There were two girls lived in a palace. They were princess Endahwarni and Anteh. Princess Endahwarni was the daughter of the king and the queen while Anteh was the daughter of the lady-in-waiting of the kingdom. Anteh's mother died while she was a baby. The queen raised Anteh as her own child.
Someday, when princess Endahwarni was adult enough, her parents asked her to be married by a prince from another kingdom named Anantakusuma. But the prince has fallen in love with Anteh. Unfortunately, the wedding couldn't be stopped. Finally, Anantakusuma's feeling to Anteh was known by his wife. She was full of anger and ordered Anteh to go from her palace.
Anteh was sad. She went to her mother's hometown and stay in her uncle's house overnight. She finally had a husband and helped his economy as a tailor. The dresses she made were all beautiful. She became famous. This news was heard by Endahwarni and she finally remembered about Anteh. She decided to go finding Anteh and asked her apologize. She also asked Anteh to stay back in the palace and became the palace tailor. Anteh refused it at first. But, Endahwarni forced her and offered her husband and children to live in the palace, too. Anteh finally accepted it.
Anantakusuma's love to Anteh grew bigger. When Anteh was playing with her lovely cat named Candramawat alone, He started to walk closer. He told his true feeling and asked her to be his wife, second wife i think. She refused it of course. She trying to escape from him, but he chased her. She finally prayed to God for helping her. Do you know what happened next? Suddenly, the moonlight covered her body and her cat with its rays and slowly lifted them to the moon. They stayed on the moon forever and never came back to earth. Whenever she missed her family, she knitted and made stairs from the fabric she made. But, her cat, Candramawat always teared it.
The story was amazing, right? But suddenly, there was a phone call from my aunt. She asked to me to go home. Actually i really want to watch the next performance from Adera and Hivi. But it was 6.00 p.m and the sky was going to be dark. I went out from the venue with a disappointed emotional.
Then i went to the mosque in front of my school to take a pray. But the gate was closed. I walked around to find a strategic place to pray. Then i entered to my school and decided to pray at the mosque on the third floor. It was completely dark and there wasn't someone besides me who prayed there. I tried to turn on the light and, suddenly, the light turned on. Okay. Sorry to make you curious. There wasn't any strange incident happened. Honestly, i was scared that time. But i realized that fear just only made something worse. That was one of my unforgettable moments besides Gamarvani.
Hopefully, the next culture festival will be better than Gamarvani. I also want to tell my advice to our generation to keep our culture from the extinction. And thank you very much for all of the committees who have been working on it. Your hard work was all paid off.
This is a photo of the performance of Hivi. I got it from someone else. Sorry Adera, but i don't have any photo of you.
Check this video too. It is Gamarvani's Advertisement video.