MOUNT BROMO

Mount Bromo (Indonesian: Gunung Bromo), is an active volcano and part of the Tengger massif, in East Java . At 2,329 metres (7,641 ft) it is not the highest peak of the massif, but is the most well known. The massif area is one of the most visited tourist attractions in East Java ,Indonesia . The volcano belongs to the Bromo Tengger Semeru National Park . The name of Bromo derived from Javanese pronunciation of Brahma , the Hindu creator god.

Mount Bromo sits in the middle of a vast plain called the "Sea of Sand" (Javaenese: Segara Wedi or Indonesia: Lautan Pasir), a protected nature reserve since 1919. The typical way to visit Mount Bromo is from the nearby mountain village of Cemoro Lawang . From there it is possible to walk to the volcano in about 45 minutes, but it is also possible to take an organised jeep tour, which includes a stop at the viewpoint on Mount Penanjakan (2,770 m or 9,088 ft) (Indonesia: Gunung Penanjakan). The best views from Mount Bromo to the Sand Sea below and the surrounding volcanoes are at sunrise. The viewpoint on Mount Penanjakan can also be reached on foot in about two hours. From inside the caldera,sulfur is collected by workers.

The remarkable fauna's in this park area: the Deers (Cervus Timorensis), Kijangs (Muntiacus Muncak), Budeng/Black Monkey (Presbytis Criscata), Pitta Bird (Pitta Guajana), Rangkok (Rhysticerous), Bido (Spilomiceela Bido), Belibis (Anas Supercilossa), And if we lucky we can see Eagle.

source :wikipedia.org
source :http://www.probolinggokab.go.id

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BALEKAMBANG BEACH

Maybe you only know Bali and beautiful beaches. Did you know that there is a more beautiful beach than Kute, located in East Java Indonesia? The beach was named Coast Balekambang.

Balekambang beach is a beach on the southern coast of East Java province, located in Malang regency, about 30 kilometers south of the city Kepanjen, or 45 kilometers south of Malang. Balekambang is one of the attractions in the coastal counties that already have poor road access, other than Ngliyep coastal fishing villages and beaches as well as a blue spring. Balekambang has a coastline of almost 2 kilometers, and consists of sand, which is white and light brown.

Like the southern coast of coast of the island of Java, Balekambang have a swift ocean currents and waves large enough, the lack of public facilities, including access roads are paved, but broken in several places, the lack of electricity and clean water, makes this beach so do not get much visit regularly.

Balekambang get quite a lot of traffic when the school holidays and celebrations or days of the Hindu religion, because here is a temple situated on a small rock island, about 100 meters from the beach.

source :wikipedia.org

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The BIRDS of PARADISE (CENDERAWASIH)

The birds-of-paradise are members of the family Paradisaeidae of the order Passeriformes. The majority of species in this family are found on the island of New Guinea and its satellites, with a few species occurring in the Moluccas and eastern Australia. The family has forty species in 14 genera. The members of this family are perhaps best known for the plumage of the males of most species, in particular highly elongated and elaborate feathers extending from the beak, wings or head. For the most part they are confined to dense rainforest habitat. The diet of all species is dominated by fruit and to a lesser extent arthropods. The birds-of-paradise have a variety of breeding systems, ranging from monogamy to lek-based polygamy.

The family is of cultural importance to the inhabitants of New Guinea. The trade in skins and feathers of the birds-of-paradise has been going on for two thousand years. The birds have been of considerable interest to Western collectors, ornithologists and writers as well. A number of species are threatened by hunting and habitat loss.

source :wikipedia.org

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REOG PONOROGO

Reog is a traditional dance that become the main identity for Ponorogo Regency. Reog National Festival is held every years along the anniversary of Ponorogo regency and Grebeg Suro celebration. Reog dance is also staged full moon nightly in paseban, Ponorogo town square. Reog told about the struggle for a prince who will propose to a beautiful princess. Reog Ponorogo tells the story of a mythical battle between the King of Ponorogo and the magical lion-like creature called Singa Barong. Singa Barong is a large mask usually made of tiger's or leopard's head skin, upon the mask attached a large fan adorned with peafowl feathers. The Singa Barong mask was notoriously heavy, the dancer of Singo Barong bear the mask about 30 – 40 kg weight and supported by the strength of their teeth.

Dance performance

The leading figures in Reog Ponorogo performance includes:

Klono Sewandono, A men in regal attire wearing mask in proud and pompous dance, play the role as the King of Ponorogo
Bujang Anom, rough youthful men wearing red mask, they performed acrobatic dances and sometimes also involved trance.
Jatil, the youthful handsome horsemen riding horses made of weaved bamboo, similar to Kuda Lumping dance. Today Jatil usually performed by female dancers.
Warok, played as Singa Barong, the mythical creature. The one that allowed to performed this mask dance is called warok. A warok is the hororary title of local hero or strongman of the village that possessed both exceptional spiritual and phyisical strength. The dance itself is demonstration of phyisical strength of the dancers.

Reog Ponorogo usually consists of three sets of dances; each dance is performed by several dancers:

The first dance is the opening dance, performed by Bujang Anom, male dancers wearing black costumes. The costume describe rough men with intimidating moustache and other masculinity symbols.
The second dance is the Jaran Kepang dance performed by Jatil; it is originally performed by a gemblak, a handsome and youthful teenage boy wearing colourful costumes. Today the female dancers were usually played this role.
The third dance is the main attraction of the show; it is performed by all the Reog dancers. The warok as the main male dancer, wearing a large and heavy lion mask, dances in the centre of the stage while the other dancers dance around him. To demonstrate the warok's extraordinary strength Jatil or female dancers riding on top of lion mask and being carried around.

source :wikipedia.org

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AKSARA JAWA (JAVANESE ALPHABET)

History
Javanese and Balinese are modern variants of the old Kawi script, a Brahmic script introduced to Java along with Hinduism and Buddhism. Kawi is first attested in a legal document from 804 CE. It was widely used in literature and translations from Sanskrit from the tenth century; by the seventeenth, the script is identified as carakan. A Latin orthography based on Dutch was introduced in 1926, revised in 1972–1973, and has largely supplanted the carakan.

Currently, there are only a few newspapers and magazines being printed in the Javanese script, such as "Jaka Lodhang". However it is still taught in most elementary school and some junior high school as of compulsory subject in Javanese language areas.

Function

The Javanese script is an abugida. Each of the twenty letter represents a syllable with a consonant (or a "zero consonant") and the inherent vowel 'a' which is pronounced as /ɔ/ in open position. Various diacritics placed around the letter indicate a different vowel than , a final consonant, or a foreign pronunciation.

Letters have subscript forms used to transcribe consonant clusters. Some have "capital" forms used in proper names. However, every letter in the name is capitalized, not just the first. Punctuation includes a comma; period; a mark that covers the colon, quotations, and indicates numerals; and marks to introduce a chapter, poem, song, or letter.

source :wikipedia.org

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