Ice Selendang Mayang

Ice Selendang Mayang

Selendang Mayang means Shawl of a virgin, a name referring to a beautiful girl who dances.  If you go to the old city of Jakarta, after entering the various museums you must be tired and thirsty. Moreover, during the sweltering afternoon, you will look for a refreshing drink. On the edge of the square Jakarta History Museum there are many sellers of drinks, one of which is the ice Selendang Mayang. Try one glass, deal price only 6000 Rupiahs or $ 0.6, ice Selendang Mayang is going to make you fresh and also full stomach. Why? That's what we write here.
 

Of the color it would have been interesting because there are red, green, white and the dominant color is pink so that women will buy. The feminine color and its name show the dominance of women. The pink color is the shawl that is used during the dance, while other colors are color-driven luxuriance shawl gracefully. Or there is also the associate pink colors are the shawl, while the white color referring to a Virgin.
 

The seller put this drink in a small pole with some plastic glasses for each portion. Because selling this ice does not require a wide space, the seller takes place in the corner, and surrounded by the buyer. In the old days, before the Square of Jakarta History Museum is not visited by many tourists, this drink is very popular among old people for remembering their childhood. People believe that Ice Selendang Mayang is a drink that has been known for a very long time. This drink is now known as Betawi beverage; of course it was very popular in Batavia – old Jakarta.
 

Bright color is perfect in the New Year as a drink in the hope that the New Year will give brightness. Indeed, in the days entering the New Year ice Selendang Mayang is the drink that is in demand despite the drizzle.
 

Ice Selendang Mayang is made from wheat flour, sago palm starch, water, pandan leaves, pink food coloring, green food coloring, milk, ice cubes, jackfruit, brown sugar, granulated sugar and a little salt. Meanwhile, making Ice Selendang Mayang is cooking a Syrup first, boil 750 ml of water and add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, pandan leaves and salt, after boiling and then cool it and strain it. For the Selendang Mayang, mix all the flour, salt and water, stirring until the solution was mixed, divided into 3 dough and fill it with green and pink. After that cook the solution that is already colored in green until cooked and cast in molds, let it cool, and cook another solution in a white color. After it is cooked, while still hot, pour it over the green one and the pink one, make sure the dough has chilled so they stick perfectly one to another. After the dough is cool and shaped like a pudding, cut into pieces according to your taste, set them in a bowl together with palm sugar, coconut milk and add ice cubes.
Is it complicated? Let’s try!

 

Culinary

Pi Oh Tim

Batavia and its surrounding as a meeting place for many ethnics has so many culinary. Although people who came to Batavia originated from everywhere in the world, once they live in here, their tongue will be similar in tasting the special culinary of Batavia. 
 

There are tens of Batavian foods, nowadays is called Betawi food. Usually, they are a mixture of  coconut milk, vegetable, and meat. There are also beverages special to Betawi such as Bir Pletok. Thin beverage is made of coconut palm sugar and ginger without alcohol. In the ancient time, when the Dutch was still in Batavia, this town was also famous with beer industry, produced in hinterland, called ommelanden.
 

The famous asinan Betawi for instance, it is made of vegetable, vinegar and Kerupuk (chips made of flour . Usually people like to eat it in the afternoon several hours after lunch.  In tropical temperature of Jakarta reaching 33 degree Celcius, eating asinan Betawi and a glass of ice tea is a must. Until late in the afternoon, the restaurant or foodstall selling asinan is very busy serving their guests
 

There are also the famous soup called soto betawi, made of Coconut milk, meat, vegetable with emping, chip from the fruit of belinjo. Almost every place in Jakarta there are hawkers who sold the soup day and night, as people eat it in lunch or dinner. People eat the soup in a bowl with rice in a plate. It would be nice to eat it with various fried food and a glass of ice tea.
 

A special food should be mentioned is Kerak Telor. This food is a traditional snack made of sticky rice, egg, dried shrimps, and once again coconut that is mix with ginger, greater galingale, and pepper. In anthropological side it is difficult to say weather a certain food is originated from Batavia. However, since in Batavia lived the Dutch, Kerak Telor could be originated from omelet, a food that is favourite among the Dutch. Unlike the Dutch who eat omelet for breakfast, Kerak Telor is enjoyed at any time. 
 

When we walk into the chinese quarter Glodok, there is a narrow alley that in full of food vendors. There are hundreds kind of food sold at the alley side. The venodor will friendly offer us their foodstuff. Among them is Pi-Oh tim, soup made of turtle meat, it is a very special of Chinese Batavian Food.  Normally people eat with rice and cakwe, fried wheat and tomato sauce.

Of course when we talk about the Chinese Batavian Food that we may not forget is the Batavian chicken noodle. People eat the noodle normally in the morning. Although noodle came from china, but Batavian Chicken noodle has different taste with the one in South China where the Chinese of Jakarta came from.

Chinese New Year and the Almanac 2

Chinese New Year Preparation at Jin De Yuan Temple

Yearly calculated almanacs based on the traditional calendar have been produced by the Bureau of Astronomy/Astrology since ancient times, modeled upon the classic called the Monthly Ordnances (Yueling). The making of the almanac was the privilege of state power and a crucial function, by which the Son of Heaven would show his ability to read the cosmos and bring order to the empire. The almanacs were so precious that they were transported in sedan chairs and greeted with prostrations before being distributed to the highest officials; more simple versions were available to the public.

These almanacs remain immensely popular today in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Singapore. Each family may have a copy of the almanac, often termed the ‘Know All Book’ (Tongshu), comparable in significance to the Christian bible. No diviner, priest or fortune-teller would be without it. In China proper, where almanacs were prohibited during the communist era while illegal copies circulated in rural areas, they are now again commonly available and are gaining significance. English versions are now also produced and widely distributed in the West.

The Chinese almanac, which is still printed in a string-bound format with ancient wood-block illustrations, contains an astonishing variety of information. It is the one solid guide to living ‘correctly’ through the year, making use of propitious universal forces while avoiding all bad ones or offending gods and spirits. The largest section of the almanac, however, is an ancient text that does not change from year to year, even though there are regional differences. It is useful for everyday life, in accordance with tradition, including instructions for health problems, lists of herbal medicine, notes and illustrations on baby care, help in choosing a child’s name, knowledge on particular gods and deities and sections on the interpretation of dreams, of which there are many distinct types relating to the classical tradition of mountains, trees, silk and emperors. Both the Hong Kong and Taiwan versions include large sections on omens and their interpretation as well as on the writing of magic spells for every type of problem that may haunt mankind, secular and spiritual alike. There are spells for various forms of sickness and pains, for driving away evil spirits, for keeping away wild animals, for bad habits in the family such as drinking and gambling and for a host of other problems.

Chinese New Year and the Almanac 1

Chinese New Year Preparation at Jin De Yuan Temple 

Lunar New Year is always an important moment in the life of the Chinese community in Jakarta especially in the China Town Glodok. Welcoming the New Year houses are cleaned and given red baubles as a symbol of hope that the New Year will give luck. In this time there are too many fortune tellings based someone’s Shio (12 astrological animal). This paper is not to predict your fortune, but to discuss the Chinese calendar and almanac that became the basis of fortune-telling.
 

Calendars in ancient China, time was divided into a predictable cycle. The qualities of a person and the world were thought to be connected with this cycle. As part of this system, each month and year were thought to have characteristics determined by a complicated interplay of factors. These were popularly symbolized by an animal, which served as a kind of shorthand for the influences. The years were then called by these animal names. The order of the animals remains constant through the cycle of years.
 

The animals, in order, are rat, bull (sometimes called the cow), tiger, hare, dragon, serpent, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster (or cock), dog, and boar. Knowing a person’s birth date could help a practiced astrologer determine the person’s characteristics and fate. Months were based on the new Moon and lasted 29 or 30 days, with 12 months in a year. Every few years an extra month was added to the calendar to make up for the fact that the system did not quite add up to a full orbit around the Sun. The Chinese New Year falls on the first day of the lunar month in late January or early February.

Since 1911 China has used the Gregorian calendar, the same calendar as that used in the West. Buddhists developed a legend to explain the selection and order of animals in the calendar. It is said that during his days on earth, the historical Buddha selflessly preached to all creatures, animals as well as humankind. When he died and his body was to be cremated, all of the animals that had heard his holy words ran to do him honor. The system of years commemorated their arrival.
 

Although all Chinese societies officially use the common Gregorian calendar, the traditional Chinese calendar - a combined lunar and solar calendar of ancient origin - remains universally important. It marks all traditional festivals and holidays, is essential for Chinese astrology and is in itself an important medium of divination, as intricate almanacs based on it mark out auspicious and inauspicious dates for every kind of undertaking.

The traditional calendar goes by many names. The most common name is the farmer’s calendar or rural calendar (Nongli), but it is also frequently referred to as the lunar calendar or Yin calendar (Yinli) due to its emphasis on the moon phases as compared to the common solar calendar (Yangli). Yet other names are the old calendar (Jiuli) or the Xia calendar (Xiali).

The origin of the Chinese calendar goes back into the remotest antiquity, being among the root conceptions of Chinese civilization, as of all other ancient agricultural societies. Its significance for ritual and cultural integration and state formation cannot be exaggerated. Chinese mythology commonly credits the legendary Yellow Emperor (Huangdi, 2697 – 2599 BC) with inventing the calendar to advise the peasants when to sow, plant and harvest. Historical evidence goes far back indeed, as the oracle bones of the Shang dynasty describe a combined lunisolar calendar of years with twelve months and an intercalary thirteenth month to avoid drift. Documents of the Zhou dynasty testify to a complex calendar, including a sixty-day cycle (a combination of the Ten Heavenly Stems and the Twelve Earthly Branches, used in yin-yin or yang-yang combinations to produce a cycle of sixty named days). Along with the calendar reform of the Han dynasty, the sixty unit cycle began to mark years, and has been used continually since. A simple representation of this cycle is given by the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac combined with the Five Elements (year of the fire-pig = 2007,  year of the earth-rat = 2008, etc.). Despite some modifications, of which the latest was introduced by the Jesuits under the leadership of Adam Schall in 1645, the traditional calendar was in use in China until 1929.

Acupuncture In Old Jakarta

Qi in Acupuncture

If we talk about Batavia, it is not complete if we do not talk about traditional Chinese medical treatment and medicine store that has been widely recognized and used by everyone. Traditional Chinese medical treatment and medicine has been known since the Chinese have lived in Java, older than the city of Batavia itself. Even now when modern medicine has been widely recognized, many people are still looking for a cure with traditional Chinese medical treatment and medicine. As if these two things are ingrained in the hearts of the people. More than that, it has been developed with modern equipment. This time we will talk about Acupuncture, Chinese medical treatment.
 

Acupuncture is a Traditional Chinese Medicine that has been known since along time ago. As it is too old, people do not know when exactly acupuncture was recognized. Chinese medicine historians say acupuncture has existed since the emperor Shennong who lived 5000 years ago. Then the knowledge of this treatment spread to several parts of Asia including Batavia brought by Chinese immigrants. Now this medical treatment has been known throughout the world and developed further in developed countries.
 

Basically Acupuncture is sticking a needle on the skin surface right at the point of Qi or breath of life. These points can only be read by a Sin-she, Chinese traditional doctor. By sticking the needle at the point of Qi appropriately the disease will go away. Acupuncture is not only used for the treatment of minor ailments such as stiff joints, but to even severe stroke. Not only sticking the needle on the skin surface right at the point of Qi, the needles are also vibrated slowly so that the patient will feel of the breath of life flow throughout the body so he healed. The needles had been driven by a special tool with a certain length of time. Usually for half an hour. The needle vibrator is equipped with cables of which tip is clamped to the needle tip. How thrilling needle in the era before electricity? The needles had been played at a time by hand.
 

Before doing needling a Sin-she will check your heart rate and blood pressure so that the condition of the patient before treatment is known. Checking heart rate has been done long ago by Sin-She in China. The needles used to puncture are very thin but long, approximately three centimeters. A Sin-she always used new needles so that patients will not be infected with diseases such as aids. When the needle is put into the skin ached a little like being bitten by ants, but after coming to the surface of the skin and gently vibrated with a vibrator, a patient can fall asleep soundly as relaxed and comfortable. Because of the comfort there are patients who had recovered remains for routine acupuncture to restore stamina.
 

In Batavia acupuncture Sin-She was in Chinese hospital located in Rhinoceros Gracht or now Tiang Bendera Street. Now the hospital have disappeared, although in the 1740 riots survived the fire. In addition, at that time there were also acupuncture sin-shes in Glodok but it was not clear where his place.
Now in the old Jakarta remains acupuncture named "Yayasan Akupuntur" or acupuncture foundation in Jalan Ketapang Utara I No. 21 served by the experienced Sin-She.  This foundation is a charity that set low prices for its patients than private practicing Sin-She. Once needling is cost fifty thousand Rupiah only. For the poor who brought a letter from the Chairman of the neighborhood association prove that the patient is not able to pay, free of charge.
 

People who seek treatment at the Acupuncture Foundation are very diverse from various ethnic, religious and economic groups, poor and rich. Almost every day the Acupuncture Foundation is always full of patients and served by more than ten experienced Sin-She. In addition to extensive building parking lot is also available in the courtyard. The clinic is open 8:00 to 12:00 hours, and open again at 16.00 until 18.00. Saturday only open 8:00 to 12:00, Sundays and holiday closed.
 

If you go to Jakarta, have to try acupuncture in Yayasan Akupuntur, here you will feel the atmosphere of Chinese hospital in Batavia that is now a distant memory.