Cirebon has its own history of becoming an important port during colonization era. Merchants from Portuguese, Dutch and as far as China came to do trade here for spices and crops. As for local influence, the history of Cirebon can not be separated from a legend of Sunan Gunung Jati (one of the Walisongos: A group of people from Java who helped foster the growth of Islam by assimilating the Islamic ways into Javanese long-believed social and cultural aspects).
Sunan Gunung Jati was considered as a person with incredible skills beyond understanding. When a princess from Siam came to test his ability by hiding a bowl under her dress and asked him to guess how old her pregnancy was, the Sunan said,"Well, it's already 6/7 months,". The princess and her group laughed and laughed. They told Sunan Gunung Jati that he was totally wrong.
After arriving at her place of stay, the princess took off her dress. To her surprise, there was no bowl under it. She was pregnant. TOTALLY PREGNANT! :D In short, the story had a happy ending when Sunan Gunung Jati married the princess who converted to Islam. That's why the influence of Chinese is found on the building architecture and its decoration, the special social characteristics of the Chinese in the eye of the Cirebon people and the food.
Until presently, people of Cirebon are considered to be open, sociable, outspoken. I believe, partly because of the many influences from the past. I hope they can stay this way. I also hope that the government in Cirebon can preserve the legacy of the foreign influences wisely before it is gone and replaced with malls, restaurants, and hotels. :)
Sunan Gunung Jati was considered as a person with incredible skills beyond understanding. When a princess from Siam came to test his ability by hiding a bowl under her dress and asked him to guess how old her pregnancy was, the Sunan said,"Well, it's already 6/7 months,". The princess and her group laughed and laughed. They told Sunan Gunung Jati that he was totally wrong.After arriving at her place of stay, the princess took off her dress. To her surprise, there was no bowl under it. She was pregnant. TOTALLY PREGNANT! :D In short, the story had a happy ending when Sunan Gunung Jati married the princess who converted to Islam. That's why the influence of Chinese is found on the building architecture and its decoration, the special social characteristics of the Chinese in the eye of the Cirebon people and the food.
Until presently, people of Cirebon are considered to be open, sociable, outspoken. I believe, partly because of the many influences from the past. I hope they can stay this way. I also hope that the government in Cirebon can preserve the legacy of the foreign influences wisely before it is gone and replaced with malls, restaurants, and hotels. :)
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