Islamabad - The wedding ceremonies, dances and festivities give foreigners a unique opportunity to gain insight into Indonesian culture and social mores.
Similar to Pakistan Indonesia is a diverse country where a number of ethnic, religious and social groups reside. Each group has its own unique way to celebrate these festivals and ceremonies. In that connection Indonesian embassy in Islamabad held an Indonesian cultural workshop at Pakistan National Council of Arts (PNCA) to introduce Indonesian culture, especially Balinese dance and Javanese wedding ceremony, to Pakistani audiences here on Wednesday.
Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan, Burhan Muhammad, said that Balinese dance is not just a dance or source of entertainment but a philosophy of life. Its basic purposes are to teach community about its culture, traditions, differentiating between good and evil, cultivating control of self, and communion with good deeds, said the Indonesian ambassador.
The cultural workshop was inaugurated by Burhan Muhammad at PNCA while a large number of audience, especially students from various educational institutions of the federal capital, attended the event.
The Balinese dance and Javanese wedding ceremony was performed and was applauded by the audience.
According to audience, the rituals of Javanese wedding ceremony have a lot of resemblance with Pakistani wedding rituals. At the end of the ceremony a heart captivating Indonesian medley song was also performed and was also applauded by the audience.
Balinese dance is dance of Bali and Java isles of Indonesia which are globally famous destination for tourists. The Balinese dance is deeply rooted in the Hindu religion and has religious groundings like a sort of prayer. The symbolism of every move and step has rich meaning in Balinese dance.
However  when Balinese dance is performed at wedding ceremonies, it has totally different meanings, for example, this dance tells the story of a wise man who is thinking of his past journey and wishes to transfer his wisdom to the young couple.