Explore The Land Of The Gods
The journey to the land of the gods begins with the gathering of participants on April 27 2018 at 02.00 in the morning. The journey takes ± 13 hours from Bandung City to arrive at Dieng Kulon Village, Batur District, Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java. The journey is traveled by bus to make the atmosphere and natural scenery during the trip to Dieng can be enjoyed properly.
After ± 13 hours of traveling, the group finally arrived in Wonosobo City, Central Java, precisely at the Kalianget recreation area as a place of transit and the change of means of transportation which originally used buses had to change to using a smaller size vehicle, namely the Dieng shuttle. The condition of the route to Dieng which is narrow and has steep contours makes it impossible for large vehicles to pass through this route so that by using a shuttle each group can quickly arrive at Dieng Village.
The distance from the Kalianget transit point to Dieng Village is approximately 1 hour with normal time. The beauty of the natural conditions while heading to Dieng Village spoils the eyes of every visitor who passes by. Located at an altitude of ± 2,263 meters above sea level which makes Dieng the highest village on the island of Java in particular, with the natural contours that are the main attraction for visitors visiting Dieng, so that with this geographical location makes Dieng a "Land Above the Clouds". "which is real. Almost half of the journey, finally the group was greeted with a magnificent gate that reads welcome to Dieng, this indicates that the group has arrived at the destination which is the main goal of the group to Dieng.
After a long journey that we have taken so far, finally, we and our group arrived at a homestay owned by residents as a place to live for the group during activities in Dieng Village. Unexpectedly, it turned out that the homestay that the group used was not as shabby as imagined, even in terms of facilities, it was the same as residents' homes in general, so there was no significant difference between homestays and houses owned by residents. The group finally rested for a while, then at 19.00 the group along with a local guide headed to the house of the traditional leader of Dieng Kulon Village, Mbah Sumarsono. Mbah Sumarsono is a new Dieng Village customary leader, where he is also the person who has the task of cutting the "rubbish children's hair" which is held regularly every year by elders and local Dieng residents. The dialogue that was held between Mbah Sumarsono and the Sociology Education group at the University of Indonesia Education regarding the history of the naming of Dieng Village itself and the traditional ritual of cutting "grumpy hair" which is routinely carried out. He explained briefly that the naming or naming of Dieng itself has a meaning where "Dieng" in the local language is "Dahiyang" which means "The Burial Place of the Gods". "The Land Above the Clouds".
For the ritual of the dreadlocked child himself, he explained that the gembel hair child is the incarnation of the gods who reside in Dieng. So that the bad hair child becomes a special child in the local Dieng community. Mbah Sumarsono explained that the child with dreadlocks and dreadlocks is not the same, he said that if the child with dreadlocks is something natural that grows without any intervention from humans, it is different from the child with dreadlocks which is man-made for artistic purposes. or mere beauty without any matter of customs in it.
From the existing condition of the community, Dieng Village is a village similar to the village in general, where the people live like villagers in other places such as farming, gardening, and trading. For Dieng's characteristics from the culinary side or souvenirs are the fruit and sweets "Carica", carica is a type of plant or plant of the papaya family but smaller in size. Carica has a texture like a salak which has a slightly sour taste so it is more suitable to be used as sweets and the seeds have a sweet taste. Besides carica, which is famous throughout Indonesia, "Ketang Dieng" has a larger size than potatoes in general, making potato enthusiasts look for it. Then there is the "Purwaceng" plant a typical herbal plant in Dieng as an energy intake to increase stamina, making it a mandatory gift that must be bought by visitors visiting Dieng.
But still, The journey to the land of the gods begins with the gathering of participants on April 27 2018 at 02.00 in the morning. The journey takes ± 13 hours from Bandung City to arrive at Dieng Kulon Village, Batur District, Banjarnegara Regency, Central Java. The journey is traveled by bus to make the atmosphere and natural scenery during the trip to Dieng can be enjoyed properly. After ± 13 hours of traveling, the group finally arrived in Wonosobo City, Central Java, precisely at the Kalianget recreation area as a place of transit and the change of means of transportation which originally used buses had to change to using a smaller size vehicle, namely the Dieng shuttle. The condition of the route to Dieng which is narrow and has steep contours makes it impossible for large vehicles to pass through this route so that by using a shuttle each group can quickly arrive at Dieng Village.
We and our entourage are grateful to be able to enjoy the natural beauty and customs that exist, especially in Dieng, and as an honor for us, especially the group of Sociology Education students at the Indonesian Education University, can be accepted and have direct dialogue with Mbah Sumarsono as the traditional leader of Dieng Kulon Village and as a figure in cutting hair for poor children, and Mas Alif as a youth figure who initiated the Dieng Culture Festival & Jazz event.
