Summer is in full swing and what better time to share with our readers the fascinating traditions of the local community of the Ciptagelar village in West Java, Indonesia. This village is the home of the first ECO Coin Award winner Yoyo Yogasmana. We received a series of unique photos from Adelaide Tam, student at the Design Academy of Eindhoven who spent two months with the Ciptagelar Kasepuhan community.




Daily performances take place in the village until late at night.



The members of a music group have a rest. They mostly drink coffee during their breaks.



Drying coffee: the locals grow their own coffee in the village. They cultivate coffee plants as a commercial product and sell it to visitors and cafes in cities in Indonesia.



Schoolgirl uniforms.



A man washing his goat. Normally, families have one to two goats and they sacrifice them during religious events.



The village unspoiled landscape.


Located at 1.400 meters above the sea level, the Ciptagelar village is one of the eight traditional villages in West Java. The local community is worldly celebrated for its wisdom, rituals and ancestral values and for the way they live in close harmony with nature to protect the environment.


Ciptagelar was also the first village connected to the Internet, which led artist and activist Yoyo Yogasmana to share his knowledge to preserve over 130 existing rice varieties without any use of insecticides with the digital domain (for which NNN granted him the first-ever ECO Coin in 2015). “The community was very pleased to receive the Award” Yoyo said“This was an important token of appreciation that presented our work to a large audience around the world”.



Known for its post-harvest ceremony Seren Taun, usually done in August, the Ciptagelar village members express their thankfulness for the succeses of their harvest.



The ceremony takes place in front of the king's rice storage house, where everybody is welcome to have a free meal.



The kitchen of the king’s house.



Women volunteer to work in the house to serve food for the king, but also for the visitors.



Preparation of the meal in the kitchen.



Enjoy, or selemat makan as they say in Malaysian.


Cover photo: Teenage boys doing mask with leftover coffee. All photos by Adelaide Tam.


Do you want to stay up to date about the ECO Coin and other NNN projects? Make sure to join Next Nature Network and never miss a thing!


 


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