LITERATURE — Jogja City Department of Culture Holds Yogyakarta City Language and Literature Competency 2024 attended by hundreds of children from Yogyakarta City Ministry of Education and Culture.
The Yogyakarta City Culture Service has opened the 2024 Our Yogyakarta Language and Literature Competency event entitled Strengthening the Network of Traditional Literature Preservers, which took place at Embung Giwangan, Yogyakarta City, Tuesday (16/7/2024).
The event was opened by the Secretary of the Yogyakarta City Culture Service Dwi Hana Cahya Sumpena and attended by hundreds of child finalists from all Yogyakarta City Islamic boarding schools.
Representing the Head of the Yogyakarta City Cultural Service Yetti Martanti, who was unable to attend, Dwi Hana said that this event was not only about preserving cultural heritage but also maintaining a rich and meaningful local identity. Remembering that the Javanese language consists of all levels and nuances of expression that reflect the depth of the philosophy of life or local wisdom passed down from generation to generation.
With this activity, the Yogyakarta City Government through the Yogyakarta City Culture Service is making serious efforts so that the younger generation does not lose access to their own cultural riches.
As a Javanese literature and script festival which is held regularly every year, various competitions have been held targeting the general public. A total of 15 types of competition branches were attended by 394 participants from Yogyakarta City residents who were divided into children, teenagers, adults and general levels.
The types of competitions held this time are macapat, maca geguritan, maca cerkak, transfer of script, sesorah and storytelling as well as panatacara.
Head of the Language and Literature Section of the Yogyakarta City Culture Service, Ismawati Retno, said that the final results of this competition were attended by 145 selected participants.
Each branch of the competition selects the first winner to the second runner up. Meanwhile, the 3 best winners in each category will become the Yogyakarta City contingent team to take part in a similar competition at the Jogja Province level next August.
“The judges who attended were well competent, namely from literary, community and academic circles. It is hoped that this competition will also be a strategic forum for bringing together traditional literature preservers, namely strengthening cooperation between literary and literary communities. And functions as a medium for moral and ethical learning,” said Ismawati in a media release received by the editors on Tuesday (16/7/2024)
Meanwhile, one of the judges at the script transfer competition, Fajar Wijanarko, explained that the script transfer competition was the starting point for searching for superior seeds to preserve the classical Javanese literary tradition, the essence of which is the character traits found in this literature.
Even though it is felt that it is not representative of the times, the ability to transfer scripts has actually become a reflective media for reading the changes of the times based on values and teachings.
It is known that this competition was held in two stages, starting with video selection last June, and live or final selection on Tuesday-Thursday (16-18 July 2024). (*Olivia )
