Flag Ceremony and Traditional Dances kicked off “The 2nd Indonesian Week'' Festivities in P
On a beautiful summer evening, Monday, August 10, 2015, the courtyard of Philadelphia City Hall was turned into a cultural event. Red and white, the colors of Indonesian flag (red represents courage, white epitomizes purity) dominated the decoration. A diverse crowd of around 400 people of all ages, including hundreds of Indonesians from all over the city, gathered to celebrate the 70thIndonesian Independence.
The event was opened by the Star Spangled Banner and “Indonesia Raya” the Indonesian anthem. After the flag ceremony, performed by the Indonesian Student Association in Philadelphia, the festivalgoers were also able to enjoy Rejang, a Balinese welcoming dance, Yapong, a cheerful West Java dance, fashion show of traditional costumes, dangdut dance competition, and joined Poco-Poco, the traditional Indonesian line dance.
On August 17, 1945, Indonesia declared its independence from Netherlands. This declaration of independence was met with opposition from the Dutch rulers, and was followed by four years of unrest and diplomatic meetings. Finally, in 1949, the Dutch officially recognized the independence of Indonesia but it was not until 2005 that Dutch accepted August 17 1945, as Indonesia's official date of independence.
Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, is 86 percent Muslim—and the largest Islamic country, though it is a secular state. Indonesians are separated by seas and clustered on islands. The largest cluster is on Java, with some 130 million inhabitants (60 percent of the country’s population) on an island the size of New York State. Sumatra, much larger than Java, has less than a third of its people. Ethnically the country is highly diverse, with over 580 languages and dialects—but only 13 have more than one million speakers.
The present day culture of Indonesia is an outcome of the interplay of old-age- traditions from the time of early migrants and the Western thought brought by Portuguese traders and Dutch colonists. The famous dance dramas of Java and Bali are derived from Hindu mythology and often feature fragments from the Hindu epics such as Ramayana and Mahabharata.
The 2nd Indonesian Week is organized by the Indonesian Diaspora Network of Greater Philadelphia and supported by the Mayor’s Office of Immigrant and Multicultural Affairs (MOIMA).From August 10-15 there are many exciting events from South Philadelphia all the way to Center City. The Indonesian flag-raising at Philadelphia City Hall last year was the first time ever that an Indonesian flag was raised at a City Hall in America. Last year the Indonesian Week was attended by more than 3000 people.
On behalf of Mayor Nutter, Fernando Trevino’ welcomed the Indonesian community to City Hall. He stressed that from its inception Philadelphia has been a welcoming place to people from many walks of life, including the Indonesian immigrants.
Ghafur Darmasaputra, the Indonesian Consul General in New York officially opened the event and praised the City of Philadelphia for its effort to strengthen the multicultural affairs in Philadelphia and for its strong support to the Indonesian community in the city of Brotherly Love. “Diversity makes the US a strong country and Philadelphia a strong city,” he said.
Below are the list of events of The 2nd Annual Indonesian Week in Philadelphia:
Monday, Aug. 10 Flag Ceremony, Cultural Stage, Dangdut & Poco-poco Flash Mob City Hall Courtyard - Center City Philadelphia 5-8PM Wednesday, Aug. 12 Batik Workshop & Fashion Show Philadelphia Art Museum 5:30-7:30 PM Friday, Aug. 14 Music and Dance "Sepanjang Jalan Kenangan" Love Park 5-7PM Saturday, Aug. 15 Consular Services (Bethany Miracle Center) Food Festival, Bazaar, FREE Health Check-up (IBC Hopfan) 11-4PM
* Indah Nuritasari is a contributor for Newsworks.org and the Chief Editor of Indonesian Lantern (www.indonesianlantern.com) The Voice of Indonesian Community in America. She can be reached at nuritasari@yahoo.com
