Selapanan

In my neighborhood, when a baby is a month old, there's a special celebration for it. In Javanese tradition, we celebrate the 35th day of a baby's life by having a selapanan. In pure tradition, the family would give away food the the neighbors and the family members as a way of saying thank you to God that the baby reaches that time safe and sound. The assimilation of Javanese tradition with Islam has brought the celebration into a new stage. In Islam, the family is supposed to slaughter a lamb for a baby girl and two for a boy. As a result of that, the selapanan day begins with a pengajian, a religious speech and then everyone attending the event gets home with food in a box containing the cooked lamb.

After a Javanese calendar calculation, we decided to have the celebration for Akbar on Sunday. The day began very busily. As for me, my job was to pick the cakes, the food and took them to my grandma's house first before I finally drove myself and my father to Serang.

When we arrived at 8, there was already a hustle and bustle in the house. They're making the centerpiece (Banten tradition). It's money glued on sticks poked on coconuts. I don't exactly know what it means. It looked great though. ;) Soon, the members of the pengajian (from Jakarta) arrived. Everything started and ended very well. The most unforgettable moment was when each of the senior family member got a chance to cut Akbar's hair. With the shalawat chanted, the process involved cutting the hair and putting it in a bowl of water with flowers. After weighing the hair, the family would then pay charity to the needy:the same gram of the hair in gold. The meat from the other lamb was distributed to the orphanage nearby.

It's not just a happy celebration for the family, but also for the neighbors and the needy.

This is a tradition I like. :)