The Roar of a Thousand Years and Prayers for Peace
Mount Bromo is part of the Tengger mountain range, formed in East Java, Surabaya, Indonesia thousands of years ago.
Legend has it that in the ancient village of Tengger, there was a princess. She married a handsome and powerful man, but the young couple could not have children. She and her husband went to a volcano in the Tengger range to pray to Brahma - the creator in Hinduism - for a child.
The picturesque beauty of the Tengger Range
The Hindu god appeared and gave the young couple not just one child but 25, after the couple promised to sacrifice their youngest child to the god. However, the princess and her husband did not keep their promise. When the 25th child grew up, the prince was in his wild age, wanting to conquer the volcano, so he went there and was swallowed by the lava.
Since then, the people of Tengger have also suffered from Brahma's punishment with sudden lava eruptions. To avoid this, the villagers annually sacrifice human beings to appease the God and the volcano was also named Bromo, derived from the Javanese pronunciation of Brahma.
Tengger people bring offerings to the crater during the 2020 sacrifice ceremony.
The custom of sacrifice still exists today, but instead of sacrificing people, the Tengger villagers sacrifice food and livestock to pray for peace. Until now, when society has developed, this custom continues, but instead of wasting a lot of food and food, the Tengger people still throw items into the crater, but there will be another group of people, risking climbing down the mountain and using specialized tools, to retrieve those items.
The items are caught back by another group of people.
The Brahma sacrifice festival takes place every June. This is the busiest time but is not suitable for tourists because the pilgrims are very crowded and the sacrifice can be dangerous. Although the festival only takes place once a year, Bromo is the most attractive tourist destination in East Java.
Not only are there never-ending groups of tourists, but local people also come to release flowers and pray for peace every day, as an indispensable activity in their lives.
Danger lurks behind the tranquil beauty
Since its last eruption in 2016, Mount Bromo has continued to attract tourists and locals to pray.
There are 2 ways to admire the beauty of Bromo in particular and the Tengger mountain range in general. Tourists can travel independently or buy an experience tour to access these 2 forms. First, visitors must wake up very early from 1am to go to Penanjakan mountain, 3.8km from Bromo to be able to see the whole view of the Tengger mountain range appearing at dawn.
Starry sky over Penanjakan
On clear days, you might be lucky enough to see milky way and shooting stars while sipping a warm cup of ginger tea over a campfire. At night, the temperature in the mountains of East Java can drop to 10 degrees Celsius. The dew from the leaves can also cause a lingering chill when it touches your skin.
In the magical night sky of the stars, the Tengger mountain range appeared and disappeared under the clouds, from afar one could see the white smoke rising from the crater of Bromo volcano. The smoke never disappeared. To the left, the village of Tengger was brightly lit, nestled peacefully under the protection of Brahma.
Three volcanoes in the Tengger range at dawn.
They say beautiful moments don’t last long. Every day, hundreds of tourists and locals wake up very early and even travel long distances to catch the brief moment when the sun shines its first rays over the Tengger range.
The once hazy picture has now been colored. The three highest peaks of the Tengger range are now clearly visible. From here, you can see the complete shape of a volcano with its regular seismic folds, and marvel at the infinite possibilities of creation.
As the sun rises, the landscape changes from orange to purple and then the blue sky appears as a backdrop to the mountains that look like they are covered with old green moss. Smoke still rises from the craters of the volcanoes, looking like fluffy white clouds from a distance. The mist covers the foot of the mountains and only clears when the sun rises, revealing a desert of coal and lava dust.
Visitors can see Mount Bromo from Mount Penanjakan
In this heartbreakingly beautiful moment, people who come here just want to admire and send good prayers to the universe, to the Gods they worship. If you stand in the middle of a space where everyone is silently admiring this immutable beauty and praying, you will inevitably feel a little emotional.
After fully admiring Mount Bromo appearing in the morning, visitors continue to move from Penanjakan to the foot of Mount Bromo. Jeeps can only take visitors to the desert, to move to the foot of the mountain you have to walk or rent a horse.
Horse riding in the "Sea of Sand" desert is an experience that attracts many tourists.
In this barren land, finding a livelihood seems to be a challenge for the people of Tengger. They have many ways to exploit the tourism potential of this land, horse-drawn carriage rental is one of them.
Hundreds of horses are gathered here, taking an average of 15 tourists each day on both the way there and back. When the sun is high in the sky, the tourists are gone, and the horses are led home. Because it is a developed tourist destination, the people here have a good mindset, so there is no way that the horses are exploited for labor.
As you approach the volcano, you will see a group of people walking together like a pilgrimage from the foot of the mountain to the crater. Here, street vendors sell flowers for 30,000 Rupiah per bunch. Locals or tourists can buy flowers here and bring them to the top of the mountain to pray.
Thousands of people, both tourists and locals, come here to visit and pray.
There is a 250-step ladder built from the foot of the mountain to the crater as a challenge to the faith of the pious. However, this has never discouraged anyone. After finishing the last step, the crater appears with a column of white smoke like clouds.
Tourists race to capture the once-in-a-lifetime scene, while locals pray with all their heart, creating a bustling but not chaotic scene. Sincere prayers are sent in bouquets of flowers and thrown down the mountain to ensure that Brahma has witnessed the prayer.
In the beautiful, quiet setting, the roar of the volcano still resounds from time to time. No one knows when the volcano will erupt again. Only know that hundreds of thousands of tourists every year will still choose this place to admire this unique beauty.
