Welcome back Waisak2022 in the first time for 3 years ( 16 May )
Finally Waisak came back to Borobudur after long sleep in darkness of the pandemic of Covid-19!
The good news about Waisak2022 was just published in the end of April, just around 2 weeks before of the day.
Wow, Waisak will be coming back!!
Our exciting 2 week just began like this.
This year we had 2 group tours, Full Day Tour and Lantern Tour.
Full Day Tour allows you to join all of main rituals such as Parade, Lantern and Detik-detik which is holiest ritual of Waisak. Detik-detik is nomally scheduled at night, but this year Detik-detik was at 11:13am.
Lantern Tour brings you to the highlight of Waisak, Lantern only.
I joined in Full Day Tour from the morning on 16 May. At 6am, Mendut Temple that is the start point of Parade was very crowded, it was a kind of chaos. But everyone looked excited to have Waisak.
To get in Mendut Temple, Waisak Participant Card or Invitation were required at the entrance.
In Mendut Temple, there were many Buddhist monks who were chanting. Our group had seats near the temple and waited for Parade starting.
Parade started around 7:30am, there were more than 20 Buddhist groups to join in it. The first half groups were very high-ranked monk groups. The second half groups were Buddhist groups with some monks. Parade goes main road from Mendut Temple to Borobudur Temple. The road is closed for this, so we could walk in safe without any cars and bikes. On the way to Borobudur Temple, it showered just for a while. We walked around 1.5 hours.
The next ritual was Detik-detik.
This was held just under the temple, in the yard that is located in West part of the temple. The offerings that were brought from Mendut Temple were put under the big gold Buddha statue. We sat down on a carpet.
It was the hottest time of the day, we had been patient under the very strong sunlight. I could feel that my skin burned by the sunlight. Mineral water that were brought by our drivers save our lives.
On the stage, there were some speeches by some heads of organizations. After this, the holiest ritual started with meditation and chanting.
Actually it was my first time to join in Detik-detik. Because in most of years, this ritual were held before/after Lantern at midnight, so I had missed chances to join in. I guess that Detik-detik at night is more mystical, but it was very good experience to see Indoensian Buddhism.
The ritual still continued but we called it a day and moved to a hill that we rented for lunch time. There were no other people except for our groups, we could enjoy our lunch box with breeze and chanting from Borobudur Temple. It was very refreshing moment for us.
After lunch, we had 3-hour free time. Some people stayed in the hill to chat with others and take a nap there. Some other people and me went back to the temple with our guides and had a tour to see Borobudur Temple.
While Full Day Tour guests enjoyed their time in Borobudur Temple Park, our Lantern Tour guests arrived one by one. I welcomed them with a guide at the gate and went to see the temple with them again in sunset time.
Dinner started from 6pm at the best location where we could see lit-up Borobudur Temple.
This year, there were 2 sessions of Lantern.
We joined in the second session that was scheduled from 8:30pm. We had heard that the gate would open at 8pm. So we all together went to the Lantern yard around 7:50pm. There were big crowds in front of the gate, it was humid and dizzying.
This was just beginning of the long long long patience.
8pm, still the gate kept quiet.
8:15pm, nothing happend.
8:30pm, we were still in front of the gate.
8:45pm, I was in doubt “Any problem inside? Why no any announcement about this situation? Our groups can release their lanterns??”
9:00pm, finally the gate opened.
Haaaaaaaa, finallllllyyyyyyy. We did appreciated to our guests patience sooooo much.
To be honest, this kind of things often happened in Waisak before, so we have got used to it. We can say ok with the re-schedule, but please please please give us information about the situation.
Anyway, we could get in the yard with the lantern ticket. In the yard, a staff gave us a sheet to put under our hips and indicated us to a place to sit.
The event started around 9pm. There were English & Indonesian masters of ceremony We checked all of our guests had seats then I also sat down. While listening to the explanations, I was fighting with a sleepy devil. The voices of the MCs and breeze eased me so much, I almost laid down there.
Staffs lit on the candles, we did chanting and meditation before releasing lanterns. A lantern were distributed per 5 or 6 people. Around 9:45pm, a thousand of lanterns were on us. We had been waiting for this moment for 3 years.
I experienced many times but this moment is still very special for me and took words from my mouth.
My apologies that I can’t express well about this.
After Lantern, our guests went back to their places by our tour cars. The last guests arrived at their hotel in Yogyakarta around 24:20.
Dear our guests. Thank you very much for joining in our tours. We were very happy to spend this special day with you all.
Dear our drivers and guides. For 2 years, we hadn’t been together, but we felt very sartisfied with working together again. Thank you so much for your hard work from early morning until midnight.
Dear Waisak. It’s our pleasere to have you again. See you again next year.
