Dragon Boat Festival Tanjung Pinang

http://praguedragons.cz/en/content/prague-dragon-boat-club-introduces-traditional-indonesian-dragonboats

Mon, 31/08/2009 – 10:06 — jan.tomicek

New style of paddling on boats without benches and without drum brings new life into the dragonboat classics. Indonesian boats have wide sides where you can partly sit on and party you need to kneel with your knee close to the middle of the boat. Wooden paddles are long and narrow. And compared to classic paddles they are markedly heavier.

Boats themselves pride on their beautiful large dragon heads and tails. The hull of the boat is decorated by the scale pattern. This together makes the sailing boat look like a giant floating dragon.

Therefore riding an Indonesian dragonboat is like riding a real dragon!

Prague Dragon boat club obtained two traditional Indonesian dragonboats as a gift from the representatives of Tanjung Pinang City. This city is located on Indonesian Bintan island where every year in November a great dragonboat race is held. Boats were gifted to Prague Dragon Boat Club as a demonstration of friendship and also to give publicity to Tanjung Pinang dragonboat race and to propagate the rich and colorful Indonesian culture in Czech Republic and whole Europe.

Boats arrived to Czech republic at the beginning of august. The collection of the boats as an important event was filmed by the Czech television (czech nation wide TV station) The report about this event was broadcasted in the “Z metropole” programme (”From the metropolis” – programme with news and event from Prague the capital of Czech rep.) on the August 22nd.

This report can be seen in the internet archive.
http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ivysilani/209411058230034-z-metropole/

Photographs from this event are now part of the club history and you can see them here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/praguedragons/TanjungpinangDragonBoatsArriva…

Indonesian boats will be for the first time introduced to public during the 5th annual Prague Dragon Autumn festival. They will be festively baptized and initiated to the club boat fleet during the Evening programme of the first festival day on Saturday, September 12th. On Sunday, 13th September they will be already part of the festival’s sport program. A special cup – a race for 250 meters on Indonesian boats will be held for teams who are interested. It will be the Zero year for this cup in our festival because the entering teams had no opportunity to train on this boats. Therefore this we be the first experience for people. It will be also probably the first race on Indonesian boats in whole Europe!

Next year our club will enable the possibility for the applicants to train and to practice on Indonesian boats regularly. And we will also organize 1st year of official race during the Autumn festival. The winner will get the nomination for the races in Tanjung Pinang city as the national representation of Czech republic.

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Prague Dragon Boat Club would like to thank kindly for the gracious gift to the major of Tanjung Pinang city – Ms. Suryatati A. Manan. We thank for the warm welcome in Indonesia, for the hospitality and for the mutual friendship. We would like to thank also to Mr. Sapril Sembiring for the invitation to Tanjung Pinang race and for arranging all necessary matters of making of the ship and their preparation to transfer. Our thanks goes also to the Tanjung Pinang Toursit and Culture office for their consenting position.

Our thanks belongs also to PELMI company (spedition, logistics, international transport) namely Ms. Mirka Švestková for fast, cheap and trouble-free container transport of the dragonboats.

Last but not least we would like to thank to the Embassy of Indonesian republic in Czech republic, to Mr. Azis Nurwahyudi and Gustaav R. Ferdinandus for their help with the boats delivery to Czech Republic.

Other photographs of indonesian boats and from Tanjung Pinang race can be found here:

Link to webgallery

Source: http://www.indonesia.cz/traditional-indonesian-dragon-boat-in-prague/

Bull and Buffalo Races in Madura

Bull Race or Indonesian say "KERAPAN SAPI" is a special race for the race animals cows. As a note, especially in the area on the island of Madura Kangean similar races there are competitions that use buffalo. Buffalo race is called mamajir and not bull race.


Bull Race that became characteristic of the Madura this actually consists of several kinds, namely:

1. Keni Race (Small Race)
This type of participants, followed only by those who came from one district only. In this category is the distance that must be applied only as long as 110 meters and was followed by a small bulls that have not been trained. Meanwhile, determines victory, besides speed, is also not straight or when a bull ran. For the bulls that could win the race, can follow the higher race again that is King of Race.

2. King of Race (Large Race)
The race is also called the country race is generally held in the capital district on Sunday. The length of the track about 120 meters, the participants are from the champion of Keni Race.

3. Onjangan Race (Invitation Race)
Onjangan race is the special invitation of the participants are from a district that to accomplish of race. This race usually held to commemorate the important day.

4. Karesidenen Race (The Race of District Level)
The large race is followed by a great many of the top-four districts in Madura. The race held in the Pamekasan city on Sunday, which is the peak of the event to end the season of race.

5. Jar-jaran Race (The exercise Race)
Jar-jaran race is made only to train bulls descended on the race before the actual race.

Before starting the race,all bull enter the field. Than use this opportunity to relax musculature cattle, is also an arena show beautiful clothes and decorations from the bulls to be competition. After the parade finished, all the clothes and decorations that start opened. Only clothing that does not interfere with the body movement of cattle are left still attached.

After that, immediately the first race to determine participants. As in the football game, in this phase the participants will set the strategy to be able to enter a bulls to groups in the "top" so that the next phase (elimination), can compete with the cattle from the race groups "under the board."

Next is the first elimination round, second, third and fourth or final phase. In this elimination round, the game used the fall out system. With other words, bulls that have been declared conquered, no longer be eligible to participate in the match the next round. Meanwhile, for the bulls as winner, will be faced again with the other winners of the match. So on until the last living one who is always victorious and became the campions.

Maduras most famous attraction is the annual bull racing (kerapan sapi), which takes place during the dry season in September and October. These exciting and colourful tournaments consist of a race between two pairs of bulls, each team pulling a rider and sled. Following a series of heats, which take place in different parts of the island for some weeks, the highlight of the season occurs when the finals are held in Pamekasan, Maduras capital. Recently a new bull racing stadium has been built in Bangkalan with the object of attracting more tourists to the island.



source: http://kepulauan-surga.blogspot.com/2009/03/bull-race-in-madura.html