Indonesia's Colorful Cultures

Indonesia has many things and culture for us to learn. But sadly, many people don’t know about it. So, the aim for this report is to tell you about Indonesian’s Cultures and things that are popular in Indonesia. Do you know that Indonesia has many interesting and colorful cultures? This report will tell you what are interesting in Indonesia.

Indonesia has many kinds of foods! Each region has it own specialty foods. For example, “Pempek” is a food from Palembang, and “Gado-Gado” is from Jakarta. I ask a couple of my friends in our class, most of them love “Sate Padang”. You can see from its name, Sate Padang is come from Padang. It’s not an ordinary satay, it’s a satay made from cow or goat offal boiled in spicy broth then grilled. Its main characteristic is a yellow sauce made from rice flour mixed with spicy offal broth, turmeric, ginger, garlic, coriander, galangal root, cumin, curry powder and salt. I personally love “Gado-Gado”! It’s a vegetable dish with peanut sauce dressing. It usually contain bean sprouts, long beans, tofu, tempe, potatoes, egg and many other’s green vegetable, you could improvise your own gado-gado! And there are still many foods you can try in Indonesia. All of them are very yummy! 

Cultures in Indonesia are so interesting to learn and see! One of the popular in Indonesia is “Tari Saman”. Saman is also known as dance of thousand hands because of its fast movement. Its origin is from the Aceh. This dance is done by a group in one line and dancers perform while kneeling. This dance is also popular across the world too! Batik is one of Indonesian’s worlds famous too! Batik is a cloth that traditionally uses a manual wax resist dyeing technique. Batik has worldwide popularity! Now, not only is batik used as a material for clothing, its uses also including furnishing fabrics, heavy canvas wall hangings, tablecloths and household accessories. Batik techniques are also used by famous artists to create batik paintings.

Well, soccer is a sport that is popular in Indonesia right now. Many people are still wake up late because they want to watch soccer match. But, do you know? Maybe townspeople watch and play soccer, but what about rural people? Indonesia has many traditional sports too! And it’s interesting and fun to play or just watch. One that’s very popular is “Karapan Sapi”. It’s a race with buffalo! The Maduranese people of the island of Madura, East Java, Indonesia, race their strongest and fastest buffalo in races hold regularly a few times a year, typically in August, September and October. 

 So, what have you learned from this report? Indonesia has many interesting and colorful cultures! But many people, including Indonesian themselves, don’t know about that! That’s too bad, right? Why don’t we begin to maintain and preserve it? That way our colorful cultures can be well known across the world~!

By: Khansa Nadhifa Mazaya XE/25