Kemiren

The Osing are the descendants of the Blambangan population of easternmost Java - the last Hindu-Javanese kingdom on the island, which held out against Mataram and then the Dutch until the eighteenth century - and they speak a language distinct enough from Javanese to be classified separately, with their own customs, music and rites. Kemiren is the designated Osing village, and what is kept there includes the barong Osing, gandrung dance, angklung paglak bamboo music, and Tumpeng Sewu, a ceremony each year before Idul Adha in which the whole village eats together in the street from a thousand rice cones under oil lamps, preceded by a mass cleansing rite. Houses are built to Osing form, and coffee smallholdings and homestays support the village economy.

What you actually see

• The Osing language - the distinct tongue of easternmost Java, still spoken here.
• Tumpeng Sewu - the annual village-wide street meal under oil lamps.
• Gandrung and barong Osing - the dance and masked traditions of the community.
• Osing house forms - the local building style kept in the village.

When to go

May to September; Tumpeng Sewu falls before Idul Adha, so the date moves. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Performances outside festival dates usually need arranging and paying for. It is a working village; ask before photographing. Facilities are homestays rather than hotels.

Nearby

Banyuwangi is east; Ijen is north-west; the Bali ferry is at Ketapang.