I almost forgot….

That today is Kartini Day! Geez. I’ve been away from Indonesia for too long? Thank’s Sandy for reminding me

Happy Kartini Day!

Okay, for the benefit of non-Indonesians, lemme talk more about Kartini day.

Who the hell is Kartini? And why is she sooo important that there’s a public holiday named after her?

(OMG why does everything have Wikipedia page now?)
It’s Raden Ajeng Kartini. She’s an aristocrat. And as a member of aristocrat family, there are a lot of rules she had to follow. However, she attended school thank’s to her status as an aristocrat too, and became fluent in Dutch. Yet again, following the rules, she only attended school until she was 12, and then she was so-called grounded in home, told to stay at home until it’s time to get married. At this time she developed friendships with several pen friends in The Netherlands. The letters, later to be published in a book called “Habis Gelap Terbitlah Terang” (After Dark, Comes The Light – translated into Letters of a Javanese Princess), talked about her thoughts about women emancipation and the problems of society.

She was married to Joyodiningrat, which, like any other marriages that time, was planned by her parents. At that time, her husband already had three wives. However, her husband allowed her to establish a school for women.

Sadly Kartini died after giving birth to her only son. But she kept inspiring others, including the Van Deventer family who established Kartini Foundation that built schools for women.

Yikes. Thank’s Wikipedia.

She’s an icon of women emancipation in Indonesia. And being a woman myself (maybe not yet though), I really have to salute her. I can’t imagine my days spent in home and learning to knit or make embroideries. Yew.

Usually in Kartini Day, schools in Indonesia, especially elementary schools, will hold a so-called parade with the students pouring to streets wearing traditional Indonesian costumes. The connection? You bet.

I also took part in the parade though in my younger years. I remember I wore Bataknese, Balinese, Javanese, and maybe many others I don’t remember anymore. Here are some photos of the traditional costumes to give you clearer picture….

The Batak traditional costume

The Balinese traditional costume

The Javanese traditional costume

Ya, imagine me, aged 7 years old or so wearing this stuff. I would search for my photos immediately after I got back to my home sweet country. I bet it looks cute. Hehehe.

Happy Kartini Day! Long live Indonesian women!

Photos of traditional costumes courtesy of this website, this website and this website.

Bonus…. XD

Me singing “Ibu Kita Kartini”. One verse only.

Lyrics :

Ibu kita Kartini, putri sejati (Our Ibu Kartini, a real princess)
Putri Indonesia, harum namanya (An Indonesian princess, her name is fragrant)
Ibu kita Kartini, pendekar bangsa (Our Ibu Kartini, the nation’s warrior)
Pendekar kaumnya untuk merdeka (Her gender’s warrior for independence)
Wahai ibu kita Kartini, putri yang mulia (Oh our Ibu Kartini, the glorious princess)
Sungguh besar cita-citanya, bagi Indonesia (How big is her dream for Indonesia)

Lyric by W. R. Supratman, the same man that composed Indonesia’s national anthem, Indonesia Raya.

note : “Ibu” in Indonesian actually means mother, but as time goes by we also use Ibu to salute older lady. “Fragrant” is a literal translation of “harum”. But in this case it means that her name is famous.

Technorati Tags: kartini day, hari kartini, kartini, public holiday, indonesia holiday

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