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Thousands Indonesian Muslims queue to get a share of the sacrificial meat during celebrations of Eid al-Adha at Kauman Mosque, Semarang City, Central Java-Indonesia.
The annual Zheng He celebration is one of the major public events in Semarang. The procession starts with a ritual performed at Tay Kak Sie Temple, Gang Lombok ( Semarang’s Chinatown). This is then followed by parading the Sam Po Kong statue worshipped in Tay Kak Sie Temple to Gedong Batu. The statue is then placed side by side with the original Sam Po Kong statue in Gedong Batu.
Workers assemble the heads of Lion Dance outfits ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year 2016 celebrations on January 16, 2016 in Semarang, Indonesia.
This unique tradition started from the second half of the 19th Century. During that period, the Simongan area where Gedong Batu is situated came under the possession of a Jewish landowner named Johannes. He imposed a hefty sum of entrance fee to everyone who wanted to worship at the Sam Po Kong Temple. Because most of the worshippers could not afford pay the fee, the worshipping activity was shifted to Tay Kak Sie Temple. A replica of Sam Po Kong statue was made and placed in the temple. On every 29th or 30th of June, this replica statue was paraded from Tay Kak Sie to Gedong Batu to ensure that the duplicate one could get blessings from the original statue that is placed inside the Gedong Batu Temple.
Participants of all ages join in the parade at Kandri Village in the sub-district of Gunung Pati, Semarang City, Central Java.
The Simongan land was later bought over by Oei Tjie Sien in 1879 (5th year of Guang Xu). Oei Tjie Sien was the father of the philanthropist, Oei Tiong Ham, who was known as the “Sugar King” of Indonesia. Since then, the community could worship in Gedong Batu without being charged a fee and the management of the temple complex was handed over to the local Sam Po Kong Foundation. The parade itself was revived in 1930 and continued to be a major attraction to this day.
Crowds gathered in Sam Poo Kong Temple in Central Java to celebrate the arrival the Chinese New Year. The occasion marked with a lion dance, called ‘Barongsai’ in Indonesia, which is now performed openly after a government ban of the custom ended in 1998.
This year, the annual Zheng He celebration comes to the 611th anniversary of Zheng He's first expedition. Besides the ritual of the procession, several activities are organised and these included seminars on Zheng He, conference on international business, showcase of international products, cultural shows, a lantern festival, lion dance and fireworks display. The products showcase itself involved the participation of local establishments and companies from several countries which were visited by Zheng He's fleet.
Lawang Sewu building, one of the tourism attractions in Semarang.
(Asia Pacific Daily)
