West Java

The name " Sunda " is used to refer the people who speak a language typical to this people.

The Sundanese as other ethnic of Indonesia is still live with religion as the most important spiritual need, where Islam id 98% as the main belief.

Nutshell on Sundanese people.

West Java borders Jakarta and Banten province to the west, and Central Java to the east. To the north is Java Sea.

Geographically Sunda speaking people inhabit the west part of java island which is bordered by the river of Cilosari and Citanduy from the rest of Java island. Outside west Java are found people speaking Sunda such as on the city of Cirebon, closer to Central Java.

Geography

The use of Sundanese among the people is strong, daily life, school, lectures, and even among offices.

It is known fine Sundanese language which is considered original such as it is spoken in Ciamis, Tasik Malaya, Garut, Bandung, Sumedang, Sukabumi, and Cianjur. Dialect spoken by people living in Cianjur is considered the most refine and polite Sundanese. While Sundanese spoken on north coast, Banten and Cirebon is considered less polite. While the language spoken by the people of Baduy is considered old type of Sundanese.

Most Sundanese are bilingual. Generally, Sundanese is the language of choice among family members and friends, while in the public sphere, Indonesian is used.

Language

Sundanese culture features a variety of performing arts traditionally associated with different social strata.  The refined forms of tembang sunda (sung poetry) and gamelan degung music were meant for aristocratic elite, whilst the catchier versions of gamelan salendro and dances like ketuk tilu and jaipongan used to entertain masses.  Nowadays, as feodal tendencies diminish, differences blur.  No matter for interested visitor – Sundanese performing arts are alive and well.

Arts

Sangkuriang

Folklores and Myths

which tells the story of the creation of Mount Tangkuban Perahu and the ancient lake Bandung.

which tells the life of a beautiful princess. She faces the evil of her older sister willing to seize her right as a queen.

Lutung Kasarung

Nyi Roro Kidul, the Queen of the South Seas. As the story goes, in the fourteenth century there was a princess in the Pajajaran kingdom whose thirst for power was so great that her father placed a curse on her. The curse gave her more power than he himself had, but allowed her to wield it only over the South Seas. The princess was then reincarnated as the exquisitely beautiful Nyi Loro Kidul. Said to live off West Java's south coast to this day, she is more powerful than all the spirits. She is said to have received nighttime visits from Javanese kings and Muslim saints in her palace beneath the waves. Men who swim or fish off the south coast are warned not to wear green, for those who do are often spirited away by Nyi Loro Kidul and never return.

Nyi Roro Kidul

Ciung Wanara, which tells the fight of the two princes of Sunda kingdom and the history of Brebes river as a boundary between Sunda and Java territories.

Ciung Wanara

Foods

Lalapan

Snacks

Traditional Sundanese clothing for women consists of a kebaya and a sarung (a skirt-like garment). The kebaya is a long-sleeved, fitted lace blouse that is worn over another layer of clothing. The sarung is a length of cloth that is wrapped around the waist and hangs down to the ankles.

Men also wear a sarung, but instead of a kebaya, they wear a long-sleeved batik shirt or a fitted, embroidered jacket.

Note: such traditional clothing is worn only on formal occasions such as weddings. Everyday dress follows either Western or Islamic styles.

Clothing

Angklung

Musical Instruments

Angklung is a set of tuned, shaken bamboo rattles. It is played like handbells, with each instrument played to a different note. The ensemble is used in Sundanese processions such as feasts, life cycle ritual.

Kacapi is Sundanese musical instrument which played as the main musical instrument in Tembang Sunda (sung poetry) and Kacapi Suling.

Kacapi

JaipongJaipongan, also known as Jaipong, is a popular

traditional dance of Sundanese people, West Java, Indonesia. The dance was created by Gugum Gumbira, based on traditional Sundanese Ketuk Tilu music and Pencak Silat movements.

Dance

ketuk tilu which historically is the art which serves as a ceremony to welcome the harvest of rice, which is an expression of gratitude to the Goddess Sri (the goddess of rice).

It is performed at night, which paraded a girl as a symbol of the goddess Sri, accompanied by the sounds and the procession which stopped at a place usually in the field / large place where she would sit at the bamboo near oncor (kerosene lamps).

Ketuk tilu adopts animism and dynamism. The name is taken from tilu percussion instrument percussion

retinue of three ketuk (bonang) as the giver of the rhythm pattern to play the fiddle as a song, kendang indung (large) and kulanter (small) to regulate the dynamics of dance / drum, which accompanied kecrek as an accompaniment rhythm and gong giver limits of its song development in a sentence to the dance association which men and women dance in pairs, when the female dancers called ronggeng

Ketuk Tilu

The Tari Merak (Dance of the Peacock) is a female dance inspired by the movements of a peacock and its feathers blended with the classical movements of Sundanese dance. The dance symbolizes the beauty of nature.

Merak Dance

Pencak Silata martial art that blurs the line between dance and self-defense. It is usually taught to groups of children at Islamic boarding schools (pesantren).

Debususe magical power that made the

person can eat fire, cut his hand and many not make sense things.

Arts

Wayang Golek

Kujang Golok Sunda

Traditional tools