Jayapura (ANTARA) – Muslims in Walesi and Tulima towns, Walesi Sub-District, Jayawijaya, Papua, did not hold the joint stone-burning tradition to invite Ramadhan this year following the federal government’s ban on activities drawing crowds to manage COVID-19 transmission.
The Muslims in these villages picked to forego the custom this time around to consist of the spread of COVID-19 caused by the brand-new coronavirus. Baliem Valley’s Muslims, who generally hold a stone-burning event along with Catholics and Christians to invite the fasting month, this year welcomed Ramadhan in honai– conventional houses– respectively.
Earlier, Muslims typically held a stone-burning event in addition to Christians and Catholics at the Al Aqsa Mosque yard in Walesi Town.
“The custom of burning stones as well as a kind of thanksgiving for the month of Ramadhan has shown up, as a kind of friendship and shared apology towards all loved ones, both Muslims and Christians,” Tahuluk Asso, an Islamic religious leader in Walesi Village, specified.
Muslim homeowners of Baliem Valley align their traditions in keeping with the mentors of Islam in following the stone-burning routine. Pigs that are typically used in the tradition of burning rocks in the central mountains of Papua have been replaced with chickens slaughtered in accordance with Islamic mentors.
During the event, the men were charged with arranging stones on a pile of dry wood and leaves and dry lawn that would then be burnt.
Not far from where the stones were heated up, a hole would be prepared in the ground. The stones that were burned are then set up in that hole. Foods, such as vegetables, taro, sweet potatoes, cassava, bananas, and chicken, are then put on it. Thereafter, hot stones were placed on a pile of food.
After some 3 hours, chicken, sweet potatoes, cassava, and veggies put between the hot stones were taken out and taken in together.
“The Dani tribe in the Tulima Town and Walesi Town will continue to preserve the custom of burning stones in line with the Islamic faith,” Abu Hanifah Asso, boy of the Chief of the Tahuluk Asso Tribe, kept in mind.
Head of the Culture and Tourist Office of Jayawijaya District, Alpius Wetipo, said that the tradition of burning stones to invite Ramadhan in Baliem Valley exemplifies inter-religious tolerance that must be maintained.
“The villages of Tulima and Walesi will be developed as academic tourist locations, so that the worths of tolerance are maintained and spread among school students,” he verified.
Muslim transmigrants from Java that showed up around the 1960 s in Baliem Valley presented Islam to the regional residents.
Apart from instructors and transmigrants from Java in the Sinata location, now called Megapura, in the Asso-Lokobal District, the native people of Baliem Valley got an understanding of Islam from their interactions with migrants from Bugis.
Merasugun, Firdaus, and Muhammad Ali Asso were called as the first generation of Muslims in Baliem Valley in the 1970 s. They played a role in spreading the teachings of Islam in the region.
Some Dani individuals presently living in Baliem Valley welcome Islam, including those residing in the villages of Tulima and Walesi.
