Indonesian Ceremony

Selematan

At the end of October the Unit 3/4 Indonesian class held a traditional Indonesian good luck ceremony called a Selamatan. This was one of the topics we studied this year, and we were super excited to actually be able to experience one of the parts of traditional Indonesian culture. 

A Selamatan is a ceremony done in the lead up to an activity considered important, where people are able to say their prayers and ask for blessings for the activity, which in our case is our exam. One of the most integral symbols of the Indonesian Selamatan is Nasi Tumpeng, a golden ceremonial rice cone symbolising our relationship with God. We all took our turns saying prayers that we had prepared, and all of us asked for protection and good fortune for the exam. 

The Indonesian people believe that eating together strengthens relationships between people, and we all definitely feel a lot closer after our Selamatan, and hope our prayers have been heard and our studying pays off.

Anjali Sharma

Year 11 Indonesian Student

On the 25th and 26th of October, the HT Indonesian Department held cultural studies sessions with Ar’Rafi Primary School in Bandung, Indonesia. Year 5 and 6 students took part in the lesson which was conducted in both Indonesian and in English. Students from both schools participated enthusiastically. Thank you to our Head of Junior School Mr. Mahon and Ar’Rafi principal Ms Tina Pebianti for their welcome speech. Well done to Mr Mahon for also speaking in Indonesian. We would also like to thank Mr Jenkin and Ms Cummins for their support to the event. The lessons went very well.

Timi Ardiyanti

Head of Indonesian