Batik Day (Hari Batik Nasional) is an Indonesian cultural day for celebrating

batik Batik is an Indonesian technique of wax-resist dyeing applied to the whole cloth. This technique originated from the island of Java, Indonesia. Batik is made either by drawing dots and lines of the resist with a spouted tool called a ''ca ...

– the traditional cloth of

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania between the Indian and Pacific oceans. It consists of over 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, Java, Sulawesi, and parts of Borneo and New Guine ...

. It is celebrated on October 2 and marks the anniversary of when

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

recognized batik as a

Masterpiece of Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity The Proclamation of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity was made by the Director-General of UNESCO starting in 2001 to raise awareness of intangible cultural heritage and encourage local communities to protect them and t ...

in 2009. At the day, in Jakarta, the map of Indonesian batik diversity by

Hokky Situngkir Hokky Situngkir (born February 7, 1978) is an Indonesian scientist who researches complexity theory at Surya University. He is the founder of the Bandung Fe Institute, a research institute for social complexity research. His academic activities ...

was opened for public for the first time by the Indonesian Ministry of Research and Technology. The Indonesian government strongly encourage Indonesian people (especially government officials, employees of state-owned enterprises, and students) to wear batik annually on the holiday and on Fridays to commemorate the day. Wearing batik every Friday has also been encouraged in private companies. Batik is a traditional Indonesian cloth that has roots in the country's historical artwork. In celebration of their culture, Indonesians dress head-to-toe in batik for the holiday. Now, Batik Day is celebrated across a number of platforms all over the world. Particularly, in Indonesian organizations ranging from universities, church groups, and communities all around the world. These Indonesian organizations usually celebrate Batik Day as well in order to create awareness of Indonesia's traditional fabric to other cultures.

Background

Because batik is recognized by UNESCO as an Indonesian cultural contribution to the world, Indonesians found it to be a reason to celebrate this traditional fabric and the garments made from it. It started from the meeting from the UNESCO Jakarta team on the journey of how batik came to be included on the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) for Humanity and the great meaning and pride it gives to many Indonesian people. A number of batik artisans from

Borobudur Borobudur, also transcribed Barabudur ( id, Candi Borobudur, jv, ꦕꦤ꧀ꦝꦶꦧꦫꦧꦸꦝꦸꦂ, Candhi Barabudhur) is a 9th-century Mahayana Buddhist temple in Magelang Regency, not far from the town of Muntilan, in Central Java, Indone ...

and

Klaten Klaten Regency ( jv, ꦏ꧀ꦭꦛꦺꦤ꧀, Klathèn) is a Regencies of Indonesia, regency in Central Java province in Indonesia. It covers an area of 655.56 km2 and had a population of 1,130,047 at the 2010 Census and 1,260,506 at the 2020 ...

, Central Java, also took part in the celebration and outlined how Batik has now become an important source of livelihood development for them and their communities in the region. The group from Klaten shared inspiring stories on how they grew from 'zero to hero'. Their story takes them from being employed as workers on a low wage for a batik factory to developing their own cooperation of 169 women who have sustainably been able to increase their income by tenfold.

References

{{reflist Indonesian culture Batik