Decorating Mount Cilik with Red-and-White Flags

About 2,000 people, including tea farmers and students, took part in a ceremony to commemorate Indonesia’s 73rd Independence Day by hoisting a gigantic flag 100 meters long and 3 meters wide at Mount Cilik in Karanganyar regency, Central Java, on Sunday.

The ceremony began with a parade from Saraswati Park and finished at the top of the mountain while participants carefully walked while carrying the giant flag.

Traditional dances and Reog (a traditional dance that has become the main identity for Ponorogo regency, featuring lion-peafowl masks and costumes) led the parade. Entering the Mount Cilik entrance, about 200 students started to climb the path to the peak while still carrying the flag. They passed 1,945 smaller flags that had been hoisted earlier.

The event was to commemorate the country’s Independence Day as well as introduce Mount Cilik as a new tourist destination in Karanganyar.

Source&image: TheJakartaPost