Outstanding! UKSW has successfully hosted SWCU OMB Carnival 2022

Frisshilla Agustin (392020009)
Nathania Carissa Vida (392020032)
Della Oktaviani Leiffitar (392020043)

Picture: The atmosphere of the SWCU OMB Carnival 2022 in front of the Language and Arts Faculty last Saturday (10/09/2022)

Salatiga -  Huge crowds gathered on the city streets on Saturday, September 10th, 2022 to watch one of the big activities routinely held by the Satya Wacana Christian University which was the carnival SWCU OMB.

It has been a long time for Satya Wacana Christian University to host the carnival after being absent for over 2 years because of the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Officially opened by the Chancellor and the head of the Salatiga tourism office on the SWCU main campus, the carnival headed down the streets of Salatiga City as a form of welcoming their new students and also as a form of requesting permission to be part of the city of Salatiga. More than 2500 new students along with several student ethnic groups and the people of the city of Salatiga have taken part in the carnival by showing Drumblek,  a drum group, and 16 costumes that represent representations of traditional houses and rare animals.

Despite the heavy rain, it didn’t break the enthusiasm of the participants to walk as they continued to beat the drums. The carnival routes started from SWCU - Jl. Monginsidi - Jl. Moh. Yamin - Jl. Langensuko - Salatiga Roundabout - Jl. Diponegoro - Jl. Raden Patah - Jl. Yos Sudarso - Perempatan RUTAN - until it reached SWCU. During the celebration, several streets in the city of Salatiga could also be seen closed due to the carnival. 

Different from the last carnival that was held in 2019, this year, SWCU OMB led a theme “Fostering your imagination and Adaptability” by showing the SWCU CS Marching Blek, Flag Group, Costume Group, and Ethnic Group. This year’s carnival was also enlivened by the performance of Pancuran Drumblek, Gadalisa Drumblek, GTS Drumblek, Siloam Drumblek, Drumblek PPA Eklesia, Sapu Joget, and Satya Riders Community.  

One of the interesting things about this year's carnival was the existence of  "Sapu Joged". Another innovation that has never been in a similar carnival before. Interestingly, Sapu Joged itself is taken from the words 'Sapu' and 'Joged'. In the Indonesian language, the meaning of sapu is a tool for cleaning while joged means dance. It has been proved when this line carried brooms in their hand while picking up trash around the road that was passed by the parade. 

With the end of the 2022 SWCU OMB carnival, the entire series of activities held by SWCU in welcoming new students will also end. Cheers, and welcome to the city of Salatiga.