MAULID NABI 2014: A CULTURAL NIGHT

 

Every year, As Sakinah commemorates Prophet's birthday (or "Maulid Nabi") by holding an annual Maulid Nabi event. In this event, the children recite Qur'an and prayers as well as singing shalawat or praises for the Prophet. As Muslims, we always celebrated Maulid Nabi with joy and happiness.

 

However this year, we created a different format for our Maulid Nabi event. Not only religious prayers and praises, we also celebrated the joyous moment by performing traditional dances and arts, such as Saman Dance from Aceh, martial art 'Cimande' from West Java and musical performance of Angklung, Indonesian traditional instrument.

 

Every performance was coached and organised by As Sakinah's own teacher and staff. Together with the children, they practiced, selected the costume and spent time together perfecting their performance for the big night. Adam Malik, the committee leader this year, believed that the event would help As Sakinah children to know and appreciate their culture more.

 

"Seeing other performing group, like Saman, practicing very hard every week, will also motivate other group, like Cimande or Marawis to also give their best. This is our event together, so we have to work and give the best", said Mrs. Lisma during the gathering before the event. Her talk really did motivate the children to perform their best. Although it was raining on the night, many people from Bambu Apus came to watch the show.

 

Beautiful Al Qur'an recitation and poem reading about Prophet Muhammad by the children were also the favourites of the night. The poem readers were selected winners from poem competition held weeks earlier. As winners, the children were very proud. They practiced reading their poem only couple of days before performing on the stage, but their performance was applauded by many audiences.

 

Saman Dance and martial art Cimande were among the most waited performances. Twenty five girls dancing in simultaneous movements wearing Acehnese traditional costume stole the attention during Saman or widely known as the "1000 Hand Dance". Some little children on the audience even clapped their hands together following the dancers on the stage. Most of the girls in Saman team have never danced before, but seeing the audience reaction, they sure would love to go back on stage again.

 

Cimande, the martial art from West Java was also people's favourite. Coached by Adam Malik, the boys learned the martial art movement in less than two months. Now on stage, they jumped, somersaulting and hitting some tiles, which made many audiences held their breath. When Adam, who was performing together with the boys, surprising everyone by successfully hitting three layers of bricks, the venue was deafen by thunder of claps.

 

The night was closed by a stunning performance by Marawis, a traditional arabian drum and tambourine performance, led by Heri Siswanto, our former student, who is now studying at university while teaching our younger students to read Qur'an. Wearing traditional Indonesian Malay costume, Heri and his group mates rocked the venue. Singing praises to Prophet Muhammad in Arabic, the group successfully led the audience to clap, dance and sing with them. It was clear that every one was having a great time. The performance ended with loud cheers from the audience.

 

This year was the first time As Sakinah organised a cultural night to celebrate Maulid Nabi. Not only reading Qur'an and recite prayers, now As Sakinah children also know about traditional dances and arts. Through this event, we believe that every one should know their own culture and be proud of it. So, we definitely cannot wait to plan our next Maulid Nabi event!