Selayar Islands Sulawesi – After mooring their vessel a day before, at the Benteng Selayar Port, Arka Kinari crews attended the welcoming ceremony on Friday (2/10) in the Regent’s Office of Selayar Islands Sulawesi, welcomed by the local government officials and the representatives of the Ministry of Education and Culture. Kambaurang Dance, along with the traditional music, enlivened the welcoming ceremony. However, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, the ceremony was limited and attended only by the official guests.
Dr. H. Asriady Sulaiman, S.IP., M. Si., the acting regent of Selayar Islands Sulawesi, gave his speech in this closed ceremony. In addition, Nova Ruth and Grey Filastine, as the vessel owners, gave the speech concerning the meaning of their voyage to spread the cultural and environmental missions that are close to their daily lives.
Following the welcoming ceremony and lunch, the Arka Kinari crews went to the old village of Bitombang. There they found hundreds of years of stilt houses which have been passed down from one generation to the other generations and still in use today. The crews interacted with the village headman of Bitombang and visited the first house in the village lived by the sixth generation.
Some crews bought agricultural products from the residents, including coconut oil and vanilla. After visiting the village, some crews continued their journey to see the process of copra in Tile-Tile Village and the others prepared for their music performance in the Selayar Green Gold Festival 2020.
The Green Gold Festival 2020, which lasted on 2 and 3 October 2020 at Sunari Beach Resort, was the initiation of the Department of Education and Culture of Selayar Islands to welcome Arka Kinari crews. The festival name is derived from Christiaan Heersink’s book Dependence on Green Gold (1999), stated that the green-gold coconuts became the main commodity of the Selayar Islands Sulawesi to trade with other areas within the Spice Routes. The festival offered traditional dances and a mini-exhibition of the Cultural Heritage Preservation Office of the South Sulawesi that showed some ceramics and metal found in Bontosikuyu. Similar to the welcoming ceremony, this festival was limited and attended only by few guests who were required to wear masks in line with the health protocol.
In Selayar Green Gold Festival 2020, Nova Ruth and Grey Filastine performed several songs from their musical album along with the series of Arka Kinari’s voyages video, starting from the Netherlands in August 2019 as the visual background. Besides the music performance, there was also a two-way discussion with the audience.
Text: Putri A. F.
Editor: Doni Ahmadi
Translator: Dhiani Probhosiwi
