Pencak Silat Seni Festival 2018 (Suriname)

The festival was held in Commewijne, an eastern district of Suriname. Where 5 schools participated in multiple categories of style, technique, fighting (sparring) and showmanship.
This style of martial arts was formerly only practiced by descendants of Indonesia but over the years many other ethnicities have joined in, turning it into a truly multicultural art.

Here I have summed a few international achievements of the Surinamese Pencak Silat schools.

• 2004 World Championship Singapore - 5th place
• 2005 Belgium Open - Bronze
• 2007 World Championship Malaysia - Bronze
• 2010 World Championship Indonesia - 5th Place
• 2013 Belgium Open - Gold
• 2014 Belgium Open - Bronze
• 2015 Belgium Open - 2x Silver & 1 Bronze
• 2016 World Championship Bali - Bronze
  

What is Pencak Silat?

Pencak silat is a compound of the two most commonly used words for martial arts in Indonesia. Pencak was the term used in central and east Java, while silat was used in Sumatra and Borneo. In modern usage, pencak and silat are seen as being two aspects of the same practice. Pencak is the essence of training, the outward aspect of the art. Silat is the internal essence of combat and self-defense, the true fighting application of the techniques. The earliest evidence of pencak silat is in 6th-century Riau from where it saw further development under Indian and Chinese influence in the Hindu-Buddhist kingdoms of Sumatra and Java. The art gradually spread throughout most of what is now Indonesia and reached its peak in the medieval Majapahit kingdom. Generalizations of silat techniques are difficult due to the diversity of systems. Any part of the body is used and subject to attack. Strikes, grabs, locks, and weapons are all incorporated. Training is often supplemented with internal methods of development such as meditation.

A little history behind the immigration of the Indonesian descendants

Perhaps few people in Indonesia know that there is a large community of people of Indonesian descent living in the north of the continent of South America. Over 75,000 ‘Javanese’ live in Suriname ( (/ˈsʊrɪnæm/, /-nɑːm/ or /-nəm/, also spelled Surinam), a former Dutch colony and vibrant multicultural country located north of Brazil on the Caribbean coast between the Guianas. Although they have been there for several generations, many of them still identify as Javanese, even though very few have ever visited the island of Java or maintained family connections there. But they speak a creolized version of the Javanese language, Javanese names crop up at all levels of society and elements of Javanese culture (such as cuisine) have influenced this Caribbean nation’s culture.

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