Pecun Festival: Reliving a 2,000-year-old tradition
What would you do to get yourself a duck for free? Would you dive into the murky waters of the Cisadane River, not exactly an environmental role model? For many people, mostly young men, the answer was a resounding “Yes”.
A crowd of hundreds, including former president Abdurrahman “Gus Dur” Wahid as well as foreign journalists from China, Korea and Taiwan, gathered on the banks of the Cisadane River in Tangerang regency on June 19, despite the grey sky and light drizzle.
They had been waiting since 11 a.m. for the Pecun Festival, a Chinese celebration with boat races, lion and dragon dances, and “free” ducks. Starting this year, it has been made part of the Cisadane Festival, an effort by the local government to boost local tourism and economy.
The Pecun Festival, also known as Tuen Ng Festival in Hong Kong (Pecun is a term in the Fujian/Hokkien dialect) or Dragon Boat Festival, commemorates the death of Chinese national hero Qu Yuan of the Chu State.
According to legend, Qu Yuan drowned himself in the Miluo River (present-day Hunan province) over 2,000 years ago in protest of corrupt rulers. As the townspeople attempted to rescue him, they beat drums to scare fish away and threw dumplings into the sea to keep the fish from eating Qu Yuan’s body.
The date of the festival falls on the 5th day of the 5th month of the lunar calendar, which corresponded with June 19 this year. But as with other customs from mainland China, the festival has been adapted to local traditions, resulting in quite a different celebration than in its land of origin.
Here, four Pecun longboats, including two with dragon heads — which are taken out once a year specifically for the festival — were bathed at midnight on the eve of the festival to bless the following day’s events. The next day, the boats were lined up on the banks of the river, ready for the race.
Being a typically Indonesian affair, the festival started quite late. After speeches of over an hour from various government officials about the importance of diversity and a few false starts, the fun began.
Several ordinary boats circled the river to scatter bagfuls of rose petals on the river, then a Chinese man representing Qu Yuan, dove to the river from a metal platform the height of the Cisadane bridge — joined by several youths just for laughs. He was then “rescued” by the patrol boats standing by.
By this time, several small children on the bridge had started nagging their parents, “Where are the ducks? Where are the ducks?”
The ducks, a part of the festival exclusive to Indonesia, are given away to ward off bad luck. To be exact, 1,000 ducks would be released into the river and festival-goers would be allowed to take home those they caught.
A notice posted on the bridge stated that the ducks would be released from noon to 1 p.m., and only those who could swim were allowed to participate. Thankfully, the crowd abided by this rule.
In a move that might give animal activists a massive coronary, several cages filled with ducks were brought over and the contents thrown into the river. Ducks flew and scurried about in a panic while people from boats and riverbanks jumped in to catch them.
The ensuing frenzy — of ducks outswimming humans and boys using their hands, paddles and nets to try and catch the fowl — was truly a spectacle. Every new batch of ducks was greeted with squeals of delight from hunters and crowd alike. All this in the course of an hour.
At the end, man proved triumphant over beast, as scores of soaked young men touched base with upturned ducks in their hands, their spoils of the day.
After the duck hunt, boat racers prepared on the starting line, and as they waited for the boat race to start, festival-goers were entertained with several dragon and lion dances by Chinese temple troupes.
Without much fanfare, the boat race finally started almost an hour after the hunt ended. The boats raced in twos, with teams racing the elaborately decorated dragon boats with a steersman at the back and a drummer at the front, aiming for the finish line and cash prize 500 meters away.
What makes this boat race more lively than the usual regatta is that the teams row to the rhythm of pounding drums. Although with only four boats, the Tangerang festival is not as big as that in Hong Kong, it’s still a must-see.
Of all the major holidays celebrated in China, the Pecun Festival has the longest history. With the vast Chinese community in this country, surely it is a gold mine for future tourism, as attested by the enthusiastic crowd on the Cisadane’s banks.
Krabbe K.Piting, Contributor, Tangerang , The Jakarta Post
Add comment July 6th, 2007