Seren Taun

Seren Taun is an annual traditional Sundanese rice harvest festival and ceremony. This festivals originally held to mark the new agriculture year in Sundanese ancient calendar as well as thanks giving for the blessings of the abundance rice harvest, and also to pray for the next successful harvest. Seren taun demonstrated the Sundanese agriculture way of life, and it is held in high importance in Sundanese traditional villages, as the festival draw thousands Sundanese villagers to participate as well as Indonesian or foreign visitors.

There is several traditional Sundanese villages that held this annual festival, the notable villages are:

"Seren Taun" is derived from Sundanese language seren that means "to give" and taun which means "year". Seren taun means the last year has given way to the new year, which means the transition between agriculture years. In Sundanese agriculture community, Seren Taun is the festival to express gratitude and thanksgiving to God for the blessing of rice harvest abundance, as well as to pray for the successful rice harvest in the next agriculture cycle.

Another specific definition of Seren Taun is to give the rice harvest and present it to community leader to be stored in communal barn (Sundanese: leuit) There are two kinds of leuit: the main barn and the secondary barn. The main barn is held in high importance and considered sacred; it can be called leuit sijimat, leuit ratna inten, or leuit indung (mother barn). The secondary barns are called leuit pangiring or leuit leutik (small barn). Leuit indung contained the sacred rice seed, the pare ambu or pare indung (mother rice seed) covered in white cloth, and pare bapa or pare abah (father rice seed) covered in black cloth. Leuit pangiring (secondary barns) are rows of barns to store the offering rices when the main barn is already full.

According to historical records as well as local traditions, Seren Taun is held annually since the era of Sunda Kingdom. The ceremony was started as a dedication to Nyi Pohaci Sanghyang Asri, the goddess of rice in ancient Sundanese beliefs. Ancient Sundanese religion was influenced by animism and dynamism that revered the spirit of karuhun (ancestors) as well as unseen natural power identified as hyang, and it is also influenced by Hinduism. Since ancient times Sundanese are agricultural community that revered natural power that give fertility in plants and animals, this natural divine power is identified as Nyi Pohaci Sanghyang Asri, the goddess of rice and fertility. According to Sundanese beliefs her husband is Kuwera, the god of wealth. Both are symbolize in Pare Abah (father rice) and Pare Ambu (mother rice), signify the union of man and woman as the primordial symbol of fertility and family happiness. There is two kind of harvest ceremony in Sunda Kingdom; Seren Taun Guru Bumi that is held annually and Seren Taun Tutug Galur that is held only once every eight years. Seren Taun Guru Bumi held in Pakuan Pajajaran capital and various villages, while the Seren Taun Tutug Galur or also called Kuwera Bakti only held in Pakuan.

...
Wikipedia