Festival Danau Toba (FDT) 2013 - or
Lake Toba Festival - that was originally planned for June-July, has now been postponed to
8 - 14 September 2013
to allow districts all over North Sumatra to better prepare themselves
to participate and to make the event into an exceptional occasion for
the public and tourists alike. The Festival will cover comprehensive
activities from music, arts and crafts, to traditional sports
competitions to environment conservation activities.
To be held by the Regency of Samosir,at the Batu Hoda Beach by
Simanindo on
Samosir island and at the Open Stage of Pangururan at Pasir Putih Parbaba,the Lake Toba Festival takes the theme:
Arga do Bona ni Pinasa, meaning
the Most Meaningful Village.
The island of Samosir, which lies in the middle of the expansive Lake
Toba, is believed to be the birthplace of all Batak clans who are now
spread over a large area in North Sumatra.
In the Arts and crafts, the Festival will feature traditional
Tortor dance competitions, Gondang, drama , carving,
Ulos weaving competitions,
and of course there will be an Ulos Fashion Show. There will also be
competitions in story telling, drama, and a whole lot more. The entire
gamut will showcase the many and varied Batak cultural expressions.
Of course an important feature will be the choir competitions. The
Batak are famous for their beautiful and powerful singing voices and
church choirs that can mesmerize entire congregations.
Main feature of the Festival will be the revival of almost forgotten
traditional sports that are hoped to be included in national
competitions. Among these are
Margala. (hide and seek),
Umban or catapult competition, reminder how in the Bible, David succeeded to kill Goliath with a simple catapult. There will also be
marukkor (diving) ,
marlage (long distance swimming) competition, dragon boat races, and more.
At the same time, hotels, homestays and villages will be kept busy
cleaning up the environment, planting trees, and there will be
competitions to be nominated for the Tourist Village category which
requires innovations and creativity. Meanwhile, bands and singers will
enliven this one week event.
For more information you can log on to :
http://www.festivaldanautoba.com/