The winner of The Most Popular Festival in 2016, Erau International Folk and Art Festival was back for the 5th time this year. Held from 22nd - 30th of July, the festival consisted of lots of activities, traditional ceremonies, and performances. This year, eight countries took part in the festival, among them were from Chinese Taipei, Bulgaria, India, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand, Japan, and Poland. And also lots of groups from Indonesia were taking parts, among them were from Gubang, North Sulawesi, Malang, Paguyuban Minang, Paguyuban Bali, Paguyuban South Sulawesi, and also around 93 groups from Kutai Kertanegara.
EIFAF 2017 started with Opening Parade started from Timbau Skatepark
to Kedaton of Kutai Kertanegara and finished at Pancasila Monument,
where every group had to do a short performance. That night, the
Welcoming Dinner was held at Kutai Kertanegara Regent’s Office, welcomed
by the Regent herself, Mrs. Rita Widyasari. The event was attended by a
long-list of special guests, among them were, Special Envoy of
Seychelles for ASEAN, Mr. Nico Barito, ASEAN Secretary-General, Mr. Lê
Lương Minh, and 18 Ambassadors from United States of America, Turkey,
Srilanka, Singapore, Serbia, Panama, Myanmar, Morocco, Libya, South
Korea, Iraq, Egypt, Cuba, Chile, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Austria, and
Afghanistan.
The Opening Ceremony was held at Rondong Demang Tenggarong Stadium. The festival was opened by Mr. Yasonna Hamonangan Laoly, Ph.D, the Minister of Law and Human Rights of Indonesia. The ceremony consisted of introductions and performances by each group. During EIFAF 2017, the stages were divided into several venues; Timbau Basketball Court, Aji Imbut Sport Center Expo Area, and Kumala Island.
There were many traditional ceremony done during EIFAF. Surely, for our
foreign delegates, it was a very interesting experience for them to see.
They also participate in some of the traditional ceremony, some of them
were Bepelas and Beseprah Ceremony. Bepelas Ceremony, meant to worship
the Sultan’s spirit and body from head to toe, so that the Sultan gain
strength in performing duties and customs. The Bepelas Ceremony was done
in the Kedaton of Kutai Kertanegara. Beseprah Ceremony, in Bahasa Kutai
means eating together while sitting cross-legged on a mat, held at
Timur Monument Street up until Mulawarman. All of the participants began
the ceremony as breakfast, and the food was served on a very long mat
to accommodate all of the participants and committees.
All the delegates participated in Green Tenggarong
Ceremony, held at Kumala Island, where they planted trees as part of an
effort to lower Indonesia’s gas emission. Other than that, the delegates
were also introduced to Dayak’s traditional Games called Menyumpit and
also Dagongan. Menyumpit has similar concept as darts but you have to
blow the sumpit to reach the target instead of throwing it. Meanwhile,
Dagongan is a game with a long bamboo tree as the instrument and played
like tug of war but, instead of pulling, the players have to push to
their opponents. The winners for the traditional games got prizes and
both of the winning and losing sides had one thing in common which was
shared fun and happiness.
The Closing Ceremony of the festival was filled with performances from
the delegates. Then, the ceremony was topped off with Jepen dance
flashmob performed by all of the delegates and all committees involved.
It was such a wonderful evening, and a way to close the wonderful Erau
International Folk and Art Festival 2017. Hope to be back again soon
next year!
