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Barata Kaledupa Festival 2016 at Wakatobi

 

Taking place on the tropical underwater paradise islands of Wakatobi in South East Sulawesi, the Barata Kaledupa Festival 2016 will be held from 17th to 24th September 2016 centered on the Kaledupa Island. This time along with its fantastic underwater world the islands intend to showcase the culture of the people featuring their traditional art performances, folk games, culinary taste, and handicrafts.

Barata Kaledupa Festival 2016 at Wakatobi

The festival is an inseparable part of the series of events building up to the annual Wakatobi Wave Festival (wonderful Festival and Expo) which will take place in November on Wangi-wangi Island.

The highlight of the festival will be the ‘Karia’ which translated simply means ‘festivity’. For the Wakatobi people, Karia refers to festivities that are celebrated on important moments in a person’s life such as for births, coming of age, and weddings. In this festival, the Karia will portray festivities around the coming of age of a person or rituals symbolizing the transformation from a child to adulthood. Prior to the festival, those who  celebrate the occasion will send corn, coconuts, and various other crops to the chief elder of the village. These crops will contribute to provide for the feast at the event.

On 17th September, the Henauka Nu Mo’ane ritual will be staged followed by the Henauka Nu Wowinethe next day on 18th September. At the Henauka Nu Mo’ane, boys participating in the ritual will be paraded from a mosque to the open field where the Karia will take place. On the following day of Henauka Nu Wowine, it will be the turn of the girls to be paraded from their homes to the field accompanied by traditional songs and dances.

Another interesting ritual is the ‘porimbi-rimbia’, a pre-matchmaking tradition for boys and girls of the island. The parents of the boys will visit the girls’ parents along with processions of offerings of food, crops and money designed in the shape of a house as symbol of proposalin marriage.

The entire Karia process will come to its finale with the ritual of Hebangka-bangka on 23rd to 24th September 2016. The Hebangka-bangka ritual will be marked with the release of the miniature of Wakatobi’s distinct traditional boats carrying offering of traditional food to the open sea.  This act symbolizes the release of all mistakes and undue happenings likely to have occured  during the karia rituals to be floated off and disappear into the sea.

Don't miss this opportunity to get real close to the people of Wakatobi and their unique culture.

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