2023 Lebaran Betawi festival to be held on May 20-21

Jakarta, The Gulf Observer: The 2023 Lebaran Betawi or the Betawi Eid al-Fitr festival will be held on May 20–21 at the National Monument (Monas) with the theme “A Unified Betawi, Successful Jakarta, Advanced Indonesia.”

“In this Betawi Eid, not only the Betawi people, but all Jakartans can meet and interact with each other, including with elements of the Jakarta provincial government,” Head of the Betawi Eid Committee H. Beky Mardani said in a statement here on Thursday.

He informed that the festival will feature several attractions and is expected to become a gathering spot for Jakartans.

The attractions at the Betawi Eid festival will include the traditional communal procession hantaran or anteran. Hantaran is an activity in which children or the younger generation visit their parents or members of the older generation.

Meanwhile, musical performances and ensembles with the instrument bedug will be presented at the festival. There will also be several types of orchestra performances, like tanjidor, gambang keromong, and samrah.

The legendary Kerontjong Toegoe group will also put on a ukulele-like instrumental keroncong show at the festival.

The first day of the festival will close with an outdoor film screening (tancap), and the second day will open with the palang pintu tradition, a martial art usually performed before a marriage ceremony.

This will be followed by the Betawi Cultural Parade, which will include ondel-ondel, dance, and silat performances. The parade will close with a Lenong Betawi theatrical performance.

People keen on watching the Lebaran Betawi event can visit Monas on May 20–21.

The festival will start at 8 a.m. and entry to the festival will be free. Visitors will be able to enjoy Betawi cuisine and purchase typical Betawi accessories at the festival venue.

Lebaran Betawi is an annual agenda organized by the Betawi People’s Union Advisory Council (MAPKB). It is supported by the Jakarta provincial government.

The festival was held for the first time on October 18, 2008, at Lapangan Banteng Square, Central Jakarta, and was themed “Lebaran Betawi, Eid for All.”

In 2019, the event featured the Nusantara Cultural Carnaval, which was joined by thousands of participants from five administrative cities and one district in Jakarta.