The Chinese New Year celebration in Solo, Central Java, will be enlivened with 5,000 red lanterns along the street in front of Pasar Gede, as well as a number of events aimed at highlighting pluralism and tolerance.
Between City Hall and Pasar Gede, where the center of the celebration is slated to take place, a huge archway will be set up, along with thousands of lanterns.
Solo Imlek 2568 committee head Sumartono Hadinoto told kompas.com that the amount of lanterns this year will exceed last year’s number, which was only 3,000. “The committee is cooperating with several parties like street vendors, the Indonesian Marketing Association, Garuda Indonesia and local residents.”
Sumartono added that the event aimed to offer not only a celebration, but also to positively impact the economy of the city and its surrounding areas.
Meanwhile, Chinatown residents from Sudiroprajan village will hold the annual Grebeg Sudiro, a traditional event celebrating the unification of Javanese and Chinese culture.
“The face of diversity is a culture of carnivals. Decades ago, Sudiroprajan residents could coexist alongside Chinese and Javanese people. The procession later on will be carried out with two mountains of cake baskets combined with traditional Javanese food, such as onde-onde [stuffed glutinous rice balls], apem cakes and vegetables,” Sumartono said.
Source : Jakarta Post
