INFOKU -Ketupat is a food that is never absent during Eid al-Fitr.
Ketupat is usually served with chicken opor, rendang, fried chili sauce, and other side dishes.
This typical Eid food is made from rice wrapped in woven yellow coconut leaves.
Not just food, ketupat apparently has an interesting history and historical value to know.
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In fact, there is a Kupatan tradition in several districts or cities on Java Island, which is held a week after Eid.
The Kupatan tradition comes from the Javanese word kupat which means ketupat.
The origin of ketupat is believed to be related to Sunan Kalijaga, one of the members of the Wali Songo who spread Islam in Java.
It started when Sunan Kalijaga used ketupat as a medium for spreading Islam in the 15th to 16th centuries on the north coast of Java.
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Because at that time, ketupat was a symbol of celebrating Islamic holidays during the reign of Raden Patah from the Demak Kingdom in the 15th century.
Later, Sunan Kalijaga used ketupat as a medium of preaching to spread Islam among the people of the north coast of Java.
The ketupat wrapper made from young coconut leaves shows the identity of coastal communities where many coconut or nyiur trees grow.
Then Sunan Kalijaga distributed Ketupat as a means of preaching and spreading the Islamic religion.
This became a cultural approach by Sunan Kalijaga to invite Javanese people to embrace Islam at that time.
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Sunan Kalijaga also included Hindu influences into Islamic teachings, thus becoming an acculturation.
The aim was to win the hearts of the people who at that time still embraced Hinduism.
Slowly, this Ketupat tradition became embedded in Indonesia as an Eid dish. (Roes/ IST )
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