Klojen (malangkota.go.id) – The Brantas River Festival #2 series held to celebrate National River Day 2023 reached the peak of its celebration, enlivened by the holding of three series of events at once in three thematic tourist villages, Thursday (27/7/2023).
It started with the Gugur Gunung Metri Kali Brantas event in Tridi Ksatrian Village, then continued with the Colorful Nyadran Kali Brantas event in Jodipan Colorful Village, and ended with the Lantern Nyuluh Kali Brantas event in Jodipan Lantern Village.
Head of the Malang City Tourism Awareness Group Communication Forum (Forkom Pokdarwis), Isa Wahyudi said that this celebration was held in order to enliven National River Day which is home to residents living around the banks of the Brantas River. Therefore, all residents need to maintain the sustainability of the environment of their 'home', namely the Brantas River itself. Because by maintaining the sustainability and cleanliness of the environment, it can revive tourism potential and invite tourists to stop by and visit.
"Since it has become a tourist village, let's maintain its sustainability. If it is sustainable, good, and beautiful, more visitors and tourists will come here. Later, if they feel at home, they will invite others, and finally these arts will emerge. That is the hope," he said.
According to the man who is often called Ki Demang, efforts to preserve the river itself have also been carried out at the peak of the National River Day celebration, namely by carrying out the Gugur Gunung Metri. He explained that local residents have made efforts to preserve the environment of the Brantas River by working together to go down to the river and clean the river.
Gugur Gunung means working together to go down to the river to clean the river. While metri, or memetri means a tradition of salvation to ask for safety. "What you preserve is your own environment. If the environment is preserved, especially with arts and cultural activities like this that support sustainability, then nature will remain sustainable," he explained again.
Ki Demang reminded that the Brantas River used to be a point of civilization in East Java and even the archipelago. The history of the Medang Kamulan Kingdom, Kediri Kingdom, Kanjuruhan Kingdom, Singasari Kingdom and even the Majapahit Kingdom all originate from the Brantas River. All of these kingdoms have a legacy of tradition and culture that must be preserved, one of which is through the performance of art festivals such as the Brantas River Festival itself.
"There are many stories, legends and traditional heritages that we must 'uri-uri'. For example, in Kampung Tridi there is jaranan, we display it in order to improve the arts in this village," he explained again.
In the future, Ki Demang hopes that the Brantas River Festival will be enlivened with various competitions that can be participated by the general public. The Brantas River Festival is also predicted to be able to become a glue that unites the 14 cities/regencies in East Java so that this festival can not only be enjoyed by the local community, but also the wider community, even foreign tourists who come to Malang.
The event of Gugur Gunung Metri Kali Brantas was carried out by cleaning the river and village which was done through mutual cooperation. In addition, a joint prayer was also held on the banks of the Brantas River, as well as the purification of jaranan which was carried out in the Brantas River. Residents and tourists were also entertained by traditional arts of jaranan, barongan, and traditional dances performed by young dancers from Kampung Tridi Ksatrian. It was seen that this action also attracted foreign tourists who were visiting Kampung Tridi. (iu/yon)
