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Yadnya Kasada Festival in Indonesia 

 

Friday 15 August 2014 16:14 BST
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A Tenggerese worshipper carries vegetables for an offerings during the Yadnya Kasada Festival at crater of Mount Bromo in Probolinggo, East Java
A Tenggerese worshipper carries vegetables for an offerings during the Yadnya Kasada Festival at crater of Mount Bromo in Probolinggo, East Java

The Yadnya Kasada Festival is the main festival of the Tenggerese people and lasts about a month. On the fourteenth day, the Tenggerese make the journey to Mount Bromo to make offerings of rice, fruits, vegetables, flowers and livestock to the mountain gods by throwing them into the volcano's caldera. The origin of the festival lies in the 15th century when a princess named Roro Anteng started the principality of Tengger with her husband Joko Seger, and the childless couple asked the mountain Gods for help in bearing children. The legend says the Gods granted them 24 children but on the provision that the 25th must be tossed into the volcano in sacrifice. The 25th child, Kesuma, was finally sacrificed in this way after initial refusal, and the tradition of throwing sacrifices into the caldera to appease the mountain Gods continues today.

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