Travel and Holiday Guide

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2009 everybody! It’s been a while since my last post. Been really tied up along these weeks that I cannot find time to update anything.

But since the fire is still here. I would like to talk a bit about how new year’s eve was celebrating in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Different people have different ways to celebrate the new year’s eve. It’s true. Some just having small family party, some will find it hard to resist offer celebrating with glamour party in hotels. For many of Jakarta residents who were not celebrating in either way, they have a tradition of spending the night on the protocol streets that lead toward main monument (Monas Square) and/or to the Taman Impian Jaya Ancol. It’s a vacation sites that becomes one of the icon of Jakarta. The government usually organize massive celebration in Taman Impian Jaya Ancol with live shows, grand fireworks party, etc.

Along many corners in Jakarta, we could easily find sellers of colorful paper trumpets with many variety of shapes, and we could buy it in very cheap price. Many people are willing to spend their times on their cars, or motorcycles, among the traffic jam that could last for hours even after the countdown has over. For those who have not reached Monas or Ancol when the new year’s countdown start, they still looked exciting being part of the mass with other strangers on the street, and together everyone blew the trumpets on the first seconds of January. It’s a simple and cheap way on celebrating the new year. And still not lessen the excitement created by the situation.

Actually, the fireworks are not only held by the government. In many elite housing area, many private residents sponsored the fireworks show. I am lucky enough to live in one of such areas and witnessing the beautiful fireworks from the comfort of my home, that was held around my neighborhood area. It’s awesome! I don’t have to spend hours on the street, sweating all around with many people that gather in Ancol beach area, and still can enjoy the beautiful fireworks. But yes, the excitement and fun will be different of course.

Now, have you ever been to Bahamas before? Well, it’s not going to complete talking about Bahamas without talking about Junkanoo festival. This is a Bahamian cultural expression, firstly commercialized in 1920. It’s the most exciting display of combination of music, art and dance in the world. The parade displaying colorful and elaborate costumes in variety of shapes, and colors, and most often, beyond our wildest imagination.

While dancing and performing, they also compete for the prizes offered. Thus, becoming more competitive and the participants are ‘forced’ to be more creative, and of course, giving us even greater exciting tourist attraction.

The Junkanoo festival is made possible by the effort of the whole community. Families, friends and neighbors gather within groups which consist of 500 to 1000 members. These groups perform together at the parade. The preparation took months ahead with intense practice for the dancer, musicians, and creating customes.

Today, there are four (4) major Junkanoo groups that compete earnestly every year for the grand prize. The “Valley Boys” and the “Saxons Superstars” are considered to be the two senior groups. We now have “Roots”, which was formed in 1991. There is also the “One Family” Junkanoo group, which was formed and organized in 1993.

Beside the fancy costumes, the vital part of the festival is the music. The rhytmic sound of goatskin drums, cowbells and whistles are accompanied by a separate brass section. Following the tradition by their ancestors, the local people stretch goatskin across the drum opening and “tune” it by burning a candle under the skin to tighten it to the right pitch.

Not every moment of the year you can witness this unique parade. The Festival is held on the Bay Street twice a year, 1st of January, and every 26th of December. The parade normally begins with a shotgun start at 2 a.m in the morning (yes, it’s before the dawn!), and continues until approximately 9 a.m when the results of the parade are publicly announced in world-famous Rawson Square. But winning is really not everything here actually. Since the excitement of preparation and rocking to the sounds of Junkanoo drummers, cowbellers and dancers, completely exonerate us to get up and rushly go to Bay Street that early in the morning to get the best spot to witness the parade.