Jakarta, July 17 (Antara) -- Muslims across the country expressed their happiness on Thursday night by conducting 'Takbiran' rituals (chanting God's magnificent name) to welcome the festival of Eid, after having fasted for Ramadan.
Traditionally called 'Malam Takbiran' or Takbiran Night, the ritual is held in different places such as mosques, musholla (warship houses), and squares, or even on mobile vehicles driven around the city, highlighted with echoes of God's name being chanted.
An important musical instrument used during the Takbiran festivity is the wooden drum made of the hide of cow, buffalo or goat. The drum is beaten to the tune of the chants.
As the drum is struck repeatedly in tune with the chants, it reinforces a sense of spirituality among Muslims who have been purified after fasting for a month.
The percussion instrument has been used traditionally for hundreds of years and is basically a means of communication in religious ceremonies. The drum is placed in a mosque, as well, to be sounded when it is time to perform prayers.
Therefore, the instrument plays an important role during the Eid or Lebaran festivities, as reflected in the events on Thursday (July 16) night, when the echoes of the sound of drums being beaten were heard across the country during Takbiran rituals.
In Purwakarta, West Java, local Muslims organized 'Festival 1,000 Bedug,' a 1,000 drums festival. Thousands of people poured into the street to enjoy the event.
The drum festival was held along Jalan Sudirman Street and at Sahate Square in Jalan Kolonel Kornel Singawinata. It was held to welcome Eid, which fell on Friday, July 17. Muslims performed their Eid prayers in the morning.
After performing the evening prayers on Thursday, Muslims flocked to locations where the festival was being celebrated, some using public vehicles and others, private cars.
As a large number of people participated in the 1,000 drums festival, traffic police were mobilized to arrange and to divert the flow of vehicles around the city, to prevent major gridlocks.
Head of Purwakarta District Dedi Mulyadi said that people from various circles, such as government officials and the general public, took part in Festival 1,000 Bedug.
"As many as 1,000 drums were beaten simultaneously during the Takbiran ritual held along Jalan Sudirman Street and at Sahate Square in Jalan Kolonel Kornel Singawinata," Mulyadi pointed out.
He added that the drum festival was held annually to celebrate the Muslims' victory after fasting for a month and to prevent people from organizing mobile Takbiran rituals.
To avoid its negative impacts, Mulyadi advises people against organizing mobile Takbiran recitals.
The negative impacts include traffic accidents, people sustaining injuries and traffic congestions. Accidents can take place because revelers usually use open-air trucks while conducting their mobile chanting rituals.
"Localizing the event is safer as it would then take place in certain locations and would not disturb the flow of traffic," he explained.
Unlike in Purwakarta, some revelers of Takbiran Night in the capital city of Jakarta conducted the festivities on mobile vehicles. They celebrated Takbiran Night or Lebaran in convoys of vehicles, using metromini and other public buses.
Of the two metromini buses used, Metromini 610 was taken from Blok M to Pondok Labu in South Jakarta and Metromini 74 was taken from Blok M-Rempoa from Jalan Matraman Dalam to Jalan Pramuka in East Jakarta. They carried Lebaran enthusiasts at around 10:35 p.m. local time on Thursday.
Besides drums, the two buses were also equipped with sound systems used by the revelers to amplify their Takbiran chants to glorify and magnify the Creator, as an expression of their thanks for His blessings.
Two other buses (as many as 213 public buses usually ply along the Grogol-Kampung Melayu route) also passed through Jalan Matraman Raya, carrying chanting revelers at 10:40 p.m.
While waving flags, they recited the name of the Creator, "Allahu Akbar, Lailaha Illallahu Allahu Akbar" (Allah is Great, no God must be worshiped apart from Allah). The chanting was followed by the beating of drums that broke the nocturnal silence.
A 40-year-old motorist, Nasrul, who was passing through Jalan Matraman Raya and Pramuka, noted that the activities began at 9:30 p.m., but the Takbiran festivity was not as lively as it was the previous year.
"There was an order to not hold mobile Takbiran activities in convoys," he pointed out, adding that while convoys caused traffic congestions, the activity on Thursday night was carried out in an orderly manner, with no more than four vehicles part of the convoys.
Moreover, a group of open-air cars traveled from Jalan Salemba to Jalan Pramuka, as well. It involved a number of motor vehicles, trucks and other types of cars.
Several people on the trucks continued to beat the drums in tune with the Takbiran recitals.
Besides the drums, the Takbiran Night festivities in Jalan Pramuka, Salemba and Matraman were also enlivened with firecrackers.
Apart from those on mobile vehicles, the echoes of Takbiran rituals could also be heard from mosques across the capital city. Most enthusiasts who beat the drums were young people.
Furthermore, Takbiran activities on vehicles in Jakarta on Thursday night could have been less festive this year due to the smaller turnout for the sale of drums in the city.
One of the centers where a sale for wooden drums is held is located in Jalan K. H. Mas Mansur Street in Central Jakarta.
"The sale (of drums) was better last year than this year. Yet, there was a relative increase in the turnout for the sale as compared to that on usual days," Aldi (20), a drum trader in Jalam K. H. Mas Mansur Street, remarked on Thursday.
He added that during this fasting month, he sold only five drums of various sizes every day, with a turnover of Rp1 million per day. Last year, Aldi affirmed, he could sell up to ten drums per day.
The trader sold drums 60 centimeters in diameter for Rp500 thousand each and those that are 30 centimeters in diameter for Rp200 to Rp250 thousand each.
"The smaller drum sells better. People seek them almost every day. The bigger drum is sought only in the run-up to Takbiran Night and Eid Day," he explained.
Another trader, 55-year-old Anang, said that of the 200 drums he had put on sale at the beginning of the fasting month of Ramadan, 180 had been sold. He believes that the drums he offered last year sold faster. ***3***(T.A014/INE)EDITED BY INE
(T.A014/A/BESSR/A. Abdussalam) 17-07-2015 17:27:5 |
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