Learn About Tradition and Culture from Wuye Festival in Sendang, Tulungagung
Just like “sedekah bumi” or “slamatan”, Festival Wuye becomes the costumed routine and it is held once every 7 months based on the Javanese calendar as the form of gratitude by people for everything God gave for them. Beside praying to God as the ritual, there is also the giant “tumpeng” that will be taken along the road and it is made of the natural produce from the area only for Wuye. This carnival will look more gorgeous in the night when people bring torch to go around some places there.
The “arak-arakan” will start exactly at 18.00 by walking around Sekar temple to the finish line which is the Mbah Bodho’s tomb who is the elder in the history of Sendang area. According to Redi who is the member of Sadar Wisata group or known as POKDARWIS in Sendang village, Wuye is basically the acronym from “Wage Wuku” or known as the date in Javanese calendar. If you talk about the starting time, Redi said that Wuye is basically done in the night of Friday Wage according to the Javanese calendar.
Wuye is literally the cultural attraction held by people at Kecamatan Sendang as the form of gratitude especially for the fortune from dairy farming business sector. That gratitude feeling is formed by the Tumpeng procession, art performance, torch tour and many more. As the humans grow following the time, Wuye experiences the same thing based on the time flies. Back then, Wuye was just the little carnival held individually by people. As the time goes by, Wuye becomes the citizen’s party of Kecamatan Sendang.
Redi also said that in this Millennium era, Wuye is not only enjoyed by the people around here but the entire people who live in Tulungagung. They visit Kecamatan Sendang from far away to the Lereng Wilis area. It is strengthen by the fact that in every Wuye festival, there are many people who spend their time to follow and join the procession schedule held on the field of Sendang near Sekar temple. However, Wuye doesn’t have the exact date to celebrate because people have their own time about it.
For example, if the last Wuye was held on March, then last year of 2019, Wuye was held on October or November. Wuye festival is just not an ordinary celebration because it can unite Sendang people. This celebration was once belonged to the owner’s of dairy cow but now, it belongs to the Sendang people including those who don’t have any cow at all.
