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last month, on 27022010, and in my 29 weeks of pregnancy to be exact, tingkeban ceremony was held in our parents' house in jakarta. tingkeban ceremony, also known as mitoni or nujuh bulanan, was done as prayers and rituals are meant to keep the pregnancy safe til the mother give birth to the baby. our tingkeban--which was held in yogyakarta style--was truthfully, a very exciting experience for me, for i've never watch any tingkeban ceremonies before... and now when i saw it for the first time, it was me as the main actress!! teehee... ^^ and the differences from the rituals held during the wedding, tingkeban ain't that serious--it was mooore fun, exactly.
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some of the ritual offerings--in indonesian; sesajen
the first of all interesting things in tingkeban ceremony for me were the ritual offerings. there are more than 30 kinds of ritual offerings!! and most of them are 7 in counts (7 ~ pitu ~ mitoni).
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in the top above, there's a cone-shaped white rice surrounded by 7 kinds of red'n'white javanese porridge; (1) red porridge, (2) white porridge, (3) half red'n'white porridge, (4) white porridge poured over the red porridge, (5) red porridge poured over the white porridge, (6) white porridge crossed over the red porridge, and last (7) red porridge crossed over the white porridge. in above left, there were traditional cakes, all 7 in counts ;)

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another ritual offering
in the morning, together with our family from both sides, prayers were done firstly before the tingkeban ceremony. hopefully both the mother & the baby--which is my baby berucil and me!! :D--are stay healthy and safe til the laboring process, and for the ceremony itself so that it'll done smoothly.
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we're soon-to-be mommy and daddy!! :D
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ask for blessings from our parents
after the prayers were done... then it's time for the show!! :D i changed my clothes into green jimpitan cloth--the same cloth i wore in my siraman before our wedding months ago--and hubby wears his dark-green beskap. and, yes, honey... you do looked handsome :)
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sungkeman with our parents, and an extra sungkeman of me to hubby ^^
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before the siraman was started, first we did sungkeman process to our parents, asking for blessing for our upcoming baby, and as for me, i also did sungkeman to my hubby--the soon-to-be daddy :)
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siraman process started with hubby as the first person to bathe me. siraman in tingkeban is indeed different than siraman in pre-wedding events, still according to the 7-rule, there are 7 spots to be bathe in tingkeban; (1) the head, (2) the right hand, (3) the left hand, (4) front body, (4) back body, (5) right leg, (6) left leg. fyi, the water dipper used in siraman tingkeban was made from a-halfed coconut fruit with a tiny hole in the bottom, and the bather must bathe the soon-to-be mother--which is me--quickly, resembling a pray so that the laboring process will be quick too.
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the next bather were our parents, but there's a special task for my mother-in-law and my mother before they bathe me; they must scrub my body with 7-colored body scrubs, resembling a pray so that the baby will be born as a clean, enlightened, and bright child. after our parents, 7 aunties from our family who already had at least a grandchild also bathe me. 7 in javanese was 'pitu', and these 7 aunties were meant to give 'pitulungan'--literally means help, but i think it's more to the prayers for the laboring process.
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wudhu after the siraman process
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...and the surprisingly intact funnel :D
after siraman, my mother and mother-in-law poured water from a jar for my wudhu, and after that the jug was broked down into pieces--and being examined... for what? ^^ for the jar funnel itself, is it intact or broked in pieces too as the jar body?? surprisingly, it is intact!! means the baby was possibly a boy--according to the 4D USG i'd done several days ago, it was correct!! :D, because if the funnel was broked into pieces, means the baby was possibly a girl. phewww... then the 4D USG was a waste after all ;p
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7-colored cloths wrapped; (1) white cloth, resembling that the baby will be born as an innocent & pure child, (2) red cloth, resembling of how God creates human from blood, (3) purple cloth, so that the baby will be an obdurate person and won't be easily cast down, (4) green cloth, so that the baby will bring such a cool breeze for everyone's heart, (5) yellow cloth, so that the baby will be a noble person, (6) blue cloth, so that the baby will be a loving person, (7) brown cloth, so that the baby will be a 'down to earth' person. they were such beautiful hopes for my baby... *touched*