Good morning everyone,
Would you like to know about some of Jakarta's traditional culture?
Okay, I would like to tell you a little about ondel-ondel performance.
The ondel-ondel performance is a folk puppet performance that have been existing for about 3 centuries. Ondel-ondel itself is a traditional giant puppet. The height of ondel-ondel is between 2 to 5 meters in usual, but it can be 10 meters or more. The male ondel-ondel has a red face and lady ondel-ondel has a white face.
The culture was made by Betawi (Batavian) people in 1700s, when colonial Dutch ruled Indonesia. At that time, the Dutch changed the name of the city Jayakarta into Batavia. That was why the people living in Jakarta call themselves 'Betawi'.
The ondel-ondel performance usually held by the native Betawi people in almost every big events, such as marriage ceremonies, Jakarta's anniversary parties, and other events. Ondel-ondels will dance along the traditional music Tanjidor. However, nowadays this culture is almost extinct.
