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PARANGTRITIS BEACH
Saturday, November 10, 2007
The images we have of gorgeous beaches everywhere in the world are similar: rocky cliffs and sand hit regularly by rolling waves under a clear blue sky. On a clear morning or evening, the beaches are a great place to stroll while watching sunrise or set. Not all beaches, however, have a unique tale behind them. One of the few that does is Parangtritis Beach in Yogyakarta, Central Java, Indonesia.
Located about 35 km to the south of Yogyakarta, Parangtritis Beach has long been famous, not only as a beach resort where sand-dunes, sandy beaches and rocky cliffs meet, but also as a historical place closely linked to the mysterious legend of the Queen of the South Sea, "Kanjeng Ratu Kidul". Together with her confidant, the feared Nyai or Nyi Roro Kidul, the ever youthful and beautiful queen, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul reigns over sea-nymphs and spirits. The legends say that Kanjeng Ratu Kidul was married to one of the Mataram Monarchs, Panembahan Senopati, whom she visited and communed with on certain occasions.
On certain days known as Suro in the Javanese calender, locals have a ceremonial procession, with many seen presenting offerings on the beach in honour of the Nyai Roro Kidul and Queen of the South Sea. During the day, many visit the beach and hold what is known locally as tirakatan (one-day fasting) as they pray for their wishes to be fulfilled. People in black are frequently seen sitting on the beach in a meditating pose the whole night. Locals who have meditated on the beach have said that through meditating they could see a green dragon and Nyi Roro Kidul, who remains young and beautiful. "The dragon danced before my eyes," one local said in a convincing voice. Another admitted that he meditated there so that he could meet the ever-youthful and beautiful Nyi Roro Kidul. "I can even communicate with spirits here," he added.
The legend of Nyi Roro Kidul herself is very popular. Before turning into a nymph, Nyai Roro Kidul was a young princess named Dewi Kandita, the daughter of King Mundangwangi and his first wife. The popularity of Dewi Kandita and her mother Dewi Rembulan was beyond doubt. They were known for their beauty, kindness and friendliness, and people loved them. However, the misery of their lives began when Dewi Mutiara, another wife of King Mundangwangi, known locally as selir, became green with envy and grew ambitions to become the first wife, thereby deserving full affection and attention from the king.
Dewi Mutiara's dream came true when one day she bore the son that the king had long been yearning for. Through the assistance of a witch, Dewi Mutiara made the king's wives Dewi Rembulan and Dewi Kandita suffer from 'strange' disease, with their bodies covered with scabies that created the odour of fish. The disease led them to be sent into exile in the forest where later Dewi Rembulan died. After a long, hard and helpless journey, the scabies-covered Dewi Kandita eventually arrived at a beach where she met a young, handsome man who promised to cure her illness. At the request of the young man, Dewi Kandita chased after him as he ran along the beach. When she reached the water, the man disappeared and, to her surprise, all the scabies had disappeared but, strangely, she could not move her legs. Half her body, from the waist down, had turned into the body of a fish.
Since then she became a sea-nymph, and the locals believe that Nyi Roro Kidul is the manifestation of Dewi Kandita. Want to see Nyi Roro Ridul? Then try meditating the whole night there as locals have suggested.
Its perhaps worth noting that for most foreigners Parangtritis beach is a huge disappointment.
The beach is a long flat wide black sand beach, that dips suddenly into the great Southern ocean. Unpredictable waves make it illegal if not nigh on impossible to swim here.
On a non tourist day the bench is windswept and boring, an unattractive and dirty place. The back of the beach is strewn with cheap tourist touts and stalls, seemingly shipwrecked.
The Parangtritis area is renowned as a "tempat pacaran", a place for young students and those having an affair to take their lover for the night, staying in some dirt cheap dive where clean sheets and nasi goreng make the difference between decent and not so decent.
The beach is quite literally invaded on mass on weekends and public holidays making jl parangtritis unbearable as convoys of buses carry hordes of unsuspecting tourists from Java's endless villages to see the magic of the home of the Queen of the sea.
During these times parangtritis desolate shores thrive with the hordes of mass invasion, horse rides along the beach, grilled fish and dipping your toes in the cold southern ocean are the name of the game.
The great unwashed masses arrive and depart in a rush leaving behind a beach strewn with rubbish, roads packed with departing bushes and shoes filled with black sand.
Somehow for foreign tourists this is epitomises all that could possibly be wrong with tourism whilst for their indonesian counterparts it encapsulates a great day outing for the family.
For me the greatest pleasure is had in simply sitting back and watching it all unfold... A cultural event that provides insight into both our differences and our similarities.
Its perhaps worth noting that for most foreigners Parangtritis beach is a huge disappointment.
The beach is a long flat wide black sand beach, that dips suddenly into the great Southern ocean. Unpredictable waves make it illegal if not nigh on impossible to swim here.
On a non tourist day the bench is windswept and boring, an unattractive and dirty place. The back of the beach is strewn with cheap tourist touts and stalls, seemingly shipwrecked.
The Parangtritis area is renowned as a "tempat pacaran", a place for young students and those having an affair to take their lover for the night, staying in some dirt cheap dive where clean sheets and nasi goreng make the difference between decent and not so decent.
The beach is quite literally invaded on mass on weekends and public holidays making jl parangtritis unbearable as convoys of buses carry hordes of unsuspecting tourists from Java's endless villages to see the magic of the home of the Queen of the sea.
During these times parangtritis desolate shores thrive with the hordes of mass invasion, horse rides along the beach, grilled fish and dipping your toes in the cold southern ocean are the name of the game.
The great unwashed masses arrive and depart in a rush leaving behind a beach strewn with rubbish, roads packed with departing bushes and shoes filled with black sand.
Somehow for foreign tourists this is epitomises all that could possibly be wrong with tourism whilst for their indonesian counterparts it encapsulates a great day outing for the family.
For me the greatest pleasure is had in simply sitting back and watching it all unfold...
A cultural event that provides insight into both our differences and our similarities.