Kartini's Day - Pt 1

Estana Plaza is dressed up for Kartini's Day

April 21 is a National Day in Indonesia. Celebrations have been going on around the city all week. Traffic was worse than ever on Saturday when police closed several streets while dozens of horse carts carried wagon loads of little girls, dressed up and enjoying a festive atmosphere. Funny thing was, the carts were out again on Monday, this time carrying the little boys as well.

"hey, no fair she gets to ride!"

Kartini Day is really a woman’s holiday honoring R.A. Kartini who has been referred to as “Indonesia’s Leading Feminist of Women’s Emancipation.”

a different school celebrates on Saturday (yes, they attend school 6 days a week)

Kartini (1879-1904) was born into an aristocratic family. She attended a Dutch school and became fluent in Dutch. Like other girls of that time and place, her father ended her formal education when she was 12. Girls were typically kept in seclusion from that time on until they were married and “authority over them was transferred to their husbands.”

notice Queen Elizabeth, Marilyn Monroe and unknown woman (?) also get a nod!

But unlike other girls, she continued to read books and study on her own. She exchanged many letters with pen pals from the Netherlands during those years and expressed her ideas about the equality of women and men in Indonesia.

"Can I see your mouse?"

Kartini Day fashion show, girls lining up to walk

(to be continued)