BANGKA BARAT – Mancung village looks beautiful at night. The light of the lamps was along the street in Ramadhan prior to Syawal month. It has a special meaning for its people.
The peak was on Saturday (6/4/2024) night. Thousands of villagers came to village field to joyfully joined a tradition hosted from generation to generation known as the 7 Likur Festival organized by the village administration.
This Malay tradition is marked by kerosene bottle lamps or torches. It is usually started from the last 10 days or on the 27th night of Ramadhan prior to the night of the last day of the month.
It becomes a tourist attraction in Bangka Barat Regency. Villagers build gates known as fire gate resembling Arabic calligraphy, various building miniatures, and other Islamic features at every border of the neighbourhood association in the village and have competition. Other competitions were fashion shows, calls to prayer, Qur’an recitation, and short verse memorization.
The acting governor of Kepulauan Bangka Belitung (Babel) Safriazal ZA who came at the peak of the festival was amazed at by the tradition of Lailatul Qadar night as the special night for Muslim.
“Today is the 27th day. The last week of Ramadhan. Here, in Mancung village, we’re proud of the annual tradition. It is a message of the strong value of tradition in the future,” he said.
Safrizal, who is also the Home Ministry director general for regional administration development, further said that the festival represented various cultures of Babel which needed to be preserved to avoid being vanished and forgotten.
“One of the ways to preserve the culture is by keep developing it. Let’s do it together. Let’s support the festival in Mancung. Hopefully, this festival can be included in the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Indonesia,” he added.
The vice regent of Bangka Barat Bong Ming Ming said that the festival had been held for generations. Modernization was not an obstacle. Young villagers even make it more developed by competing in the fire gate.
“This is a type of relationship that needs to be developed by youngsters to remind the villagers of the last 10 days of Ramadhan. Hopefully, Allah will bless us all. We must be proud of our culture,” he said.
Financial support for Gaza was also collected in the festival. The acting governor, the regent Sukirman, vice regent, officials of the provincial and regional government, village head Herlizon, and all people participated supporting Gaza’s people (Rangga/SAS)
