Grobogan Regency
Based on history, Grobogan Regency has been known since the Hindu Mataram kingdom. This area became the center of the Mataram kingdom with its capital in Medhang Kamulan or Sumedang Purwocarito or Purwodadi. The capital was later moved to around town Prambanan as Medang i Bhumi Mataram or Medang Mat i Watu or Medang i Poh Pitu or Medang ri Mamratipura.
During the time of Medang and Kahuripan, Grobogan region was important to those country. Meanwhile in the time of Majapahit, Demak, and Pajang, Grobogan was always associated with folklore of Ki Ageng Sela, Ki Ageng Tarub, Bondan Kejawan and the story of Aji Saka.
During the Islamic Mataram kingdom, Grobogan region were included as Mancanegara and had become the coordinative area of Regent Nayoko Ponorogo: Adipati Surodiningrat. In the times of War Prangwadanan and War Mangkubumen, the region was a power base of Prince Prangwedana and Prince Mangkubumi.
Later, the provision of the Giyanti Agreement stated, as a Mancanegara region, Grobogan were included as Sultanate, with Madiun, half of Pacitan, Magetan, Caruban, Jipang (Bojonegoro), Teras Karas (Ngawen), Sela, Warung (Kuwu-Wirosari). (Sukanto, 1958: 5-6).
An then based on the agreement between the GG Daendels with PAA Amangkunegara in Yogyakarta, dated January 10, 1811, It was stipulated that the money-shore that should be paid by the Dutch Government is deleted. Second, a part of Kedu, some areas in Semarang, Demak, Jepara, Salatiga, Grobogan districts, Wirosari, Sesela, Warung, daerah-daerah Jipang,dan Japan were submitted to the Dutch Government. And third, areas around Boyolali, Galo, and the district Cawer Wetan were given to Yogyakarta (Ibid.: 77).
During the Diponegoro War, the area of Grobogan, Purwodadi, Wirosari, Mangor (?), Demak, Kudus, lost in the fire of war against the Dutch (Sagimun MD, 1960: 32, 331-332).
Grobogan is a flat valley lying between two mountains, Pegunungan Kendeng to the south and Pegunungan Kapur Utara to the north. Although the town is known to be very hot during the dry season, Grobogan is one of the main rice producers in Central Java, which mainly supported by several man-made dams, such as Bendungan Klambu, Bendungan Sedadi and Bendungan Kedung Ombo. The construction of Bendungan Kedung Ombo was a source of national debate due to the social cost of this gigantesque project supported be the World Bank. The two main rivers are Kali Lusi and Kali Serang. During the rainy seasons, the two rivers cause floods which often destroys the harvests.
Similar to other regencies in Java, Islam is the dominant religion, with significant presence of Christianity - both Protestant and Catholic, Hindu, and Buddhism. In some places, one can still find traditional beliefs, Aliran kepercayaan and Kejawen. There are two Catholic Parishes, Paroki Purwodadi and Paroki Gubug, which are administered by Semarang Diocese.
Most of the schools are public schools. The private educations mainly are provided by the Madrassah, Muhammadiyah, both are Muslim, as well as by Protestant institution and The Union of Teachers of the Republic of Indonesia. There is almost no higher learning institution in Purwodadi. The senior high school participation is still low (21,19% in 2004) in 58,13 for the junior high school participation.
Agriculture and public sectors are the main providers of labor market. There is no significant industry, while the mining sectors remain insignificant for the economy of the regions. Many male young people work as seasonal workers in bigger cities like Semarang and Jakarta as construction workers, tricycle drivers and other unskilled occupations. While for their female counterparts, they work in manufacture industries. In the recent years, the numbers of female migrant workers have increase significantly with the main destination in Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Gulf Countries. There is a possibility of brain drain in Purwodadi, since those who are highly educated tend to find a better and more promising career outside the region or abroad.
The per capita income in 2004 is Rp 611.968,49. Formerly known as one of the poorest regencies in Central Java, Grobogan now is the 18 in the economic scale, out of 35 regencies. However, 34,05% of its population in 2004 lived in the poverty line.
Located between Surakarta, Grobogan has a strong influence of both the more direct Islam Culture from the Sultane of Demak and more subtle culture of Kingdom of Surakarta (Kasunanan Surakarta). This has been reflected in its traditional arts and performances, such as Shadow Puppet (Wayang Kulit), Javanese Theatre (Kethoprak). Although they almost disappear from the local society, those two forms of permormances can still be easily found in different parts of Central Java. Other forms of cultural performances are almost wiped out from the live of Groboganese, such as Angguk, Kentrung, Ledhek/Tayup, Barongan and Reyog. Angguk was performed mainly by a group of young girls aged between 13â€"17 years, doing a marching dance inspired by the different forms of old Dutch army and royal army from Demak and Surakarta. Kentrung is a story telling in a form of songs performed by a man with the accompaniment of a traditional percussion (kendang). The stories were mainly based on the local history or the history of Prophet Mohammed. It is possible that Kentrung was used to spread out the teaching of Islam. Ledhek/Tayub is a group of Javanese musicians and singer-dancers which was very popular due to their sensual gestures. Apart from the sensual gestures of the dancers, Tayup was/is also famous since they involve/invite the spectators to dance along with them. This kind of participative performance is rare in the Javanese context. Barongan is a Javanese version of Barongsay, the dance of Dragon, where the influence of Chinese culture can be seen from the form of the dragon, the use of the dominance red color. The difference with the Barongsay, Barongan normally presided Reyog, a trance dance. Reyog in Purwodadi was different with the more extravagance Reyog of Ponorogo. In the middle of the trance, some of the dancers could involve the eating of broken glasses and raw skins of rice (brambut).
Other examples of cultural performances were related with the life cycle rites such as Kathaman and Ngantenan. Khataman is a circumcision ceremony in which it is used as a symbol of a young boy's entrance into adulthood. Normally, Kathaman is applied only to Muslim boys. The boy would be dressed with a dress like an Arab Sheikh, and taken by horse from his house to the nearby mosque. This procession is accompanied with Islamic music. Ngantenan is basically the wedding ceremony, which we can see clearly the influence of Hindu culture. Nevertheless while welcoming the invitee, the bride and groom would be put at the center of the house with brights and colourful costumes including the traditional Javanese costumes, Arabic costumes, and supposed to be modern western costumes with sun-glasses. They can change up to seven costumes within 6 hours.
It is very unfortunate, that most of these tradition has almost all disappeared due to coming of more global and uniformed culture. Kethoprak, Kentrung, Angguk, Barongan and Reyog were used to be the expressions of thanks of the people during the wedding or other important ceremonies. Now they have been replaced either by video-movies, or by Dangdut concerts.
In early 80s, Purwodadi had two cinemas, Bioskop Kencana, located right in the commercial center of the town, and Bioskop Simpang Lima, in the southern part of the town, not so far from Simpang Lima roundabout. Unfortunately, due to the presence of television and video, both cinemas have no more activities. The outdoor cinema, more known as Layar Tancep, once used to be a source of entertainment in the villages around the town, which the organiser was invited by the village authority for special occasions to the villagers. This type of cinema has also faded away.
Regarding the food, the regency is famous for its Swikee or Sweekee, a soup of frog legs. In fact, Swikee is a Chinese term for the soup, perhaps introduced by the Chinese community in the region. Normally the soup is well accompanied by dark and sweet Soya sauce, which is also the specially of the town. However, the dish is more known by those who live in the city center rather than in villages. The frogs can be found easily during the wet seasons, among the rice fields or in the bank of Lusi river. The poor villagers will tend to sell the frogs in the market. They are rather happy to consume the fresh water crabs (called Yuyu in Javanese which is smaller in size than their cousin from the sea) and fresh water snail (Keong/Besusul). The soup of water crabs (Jangan Yuyu) is normally prepared during the rainy season before the rice harvests. This soup is very rich in taste and has very high protein content. However, this delicacy cannot be found in any restaurant but easily found in farmers’ household. The soup of snail (Jangan Keong) is also another delicacy that cannot be found in any restaurant in Indonesia, nevertheless, the similar dish can be found in Lisbon, Portugal. The snails are also prepared as brochette/satay (Sate Keong).
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