Welcome Ceremonies

One of the benefits of a sailing rally is the cultural events that are organised at many of the designated stops along our voyage. These have included a Welcoming Ceremony, a Gala Dinner and the option to join a number of tours, school visits, lunches and other events.

One of the best aspects of these events is to see the traditional costumes and dances performed by children of all ages, which they clearly learn as part of their school curriculum. These activities are now encouraged by the government, as a means of maintaining their cultural heritage. Previously, governments have sought to homogenize the population, outlawing local languages and dialects, encouraging resettlement from crowded urban areas to less populated islands, and banning tattoos and other symbols that were significant to local religions or customs. Today, it seems that tourism is one of the greatest drivers of cultural memory and preservation. We are happy to support that effort.

Our second stop in Aceh was at the Banyak Islands, just west of Singkil, in Western Sumatra. For the welcome ceremony, bright yellow peaked awnings had been set up on the large wharf to shade enough plastic chairs to seat about 200 people. An improvised stage was delineated by red and blue rugs and to one side was a long buffet table with boxed food, water bottles and platters of rice, corn on the cob, miniature donuts with chocolate sprinkles and fruit. After suitable thanks was given to Allah, our MC got the program rolling with dances from four different groups of schoolchildren. The audience included us rag tag sailing VIPs, a handful of officials and local councilmen, schoolteachers, dance troupes and community members. During the dances, the government officials would stand up, and waving money with their right hands over their heads, would sashay up to the dance floor and deposit the money in a woven basket. We had seen similar donations to dancers in Tonga, although it was a bit more direct because you actually pasted dollar bills onto the well-oiled arms and legs of the dancers. Thinking that we were being encouraged to make a contribution, we decided to give it a go, with a similar amount of money in our raised hands ($5) but from the look of alarm on the teacher’s face, we probably won’t do it again.

The Gala dinner that night was similar, with one special addition. Instead of a DJ playing recorded music, we had the Singkil Police Band, in full-dress uniform. And they were not a brass band – they played rock and roll and were surprisingly good, especially the singers. The visiting dignitary was the local Regent, equivalent to a Mayor, and his entourage. Our rally organiser Raymond Lesmana had one comment about the entourage, “Too much green.” It took a minute to understand he was referring to the green camo uniforms of various police and government officials. There were a dozen of them – one for each of the yachties.

After the buffet dinner, we were more or less marched over to the dance area to get the party started and were immediately surrounded by dozens of guests of all ages who clearly enjoyed their dancing in spite of all the extra clothing that they wear. We left around 10 pm as the karaoke was getting started. The party went on until 3 am, at which point, the remaining men dismantled all of the awnings, packed up the tables and chairs and by dawn, the wharf was clear and ready for the next ferry. All in a day and night’s entertainment in a Muslim village under Sharia law.