Puncak perayaan Sekaten atau Maulid Nabi Muhammad SAW di kompleks Keraton Kasunanan Surakarta akhirnya digelar siang tadi (24/01/2013). Berpusat di Masjid Agung Surakarta, ribuan masyarakat dari berbagai daerah di sekitar Kota Solo berkumpul menunggu datangnya iring-iringan gunungan Grebeg Mulud yang dikirab dari keraton menuju masjid.

Ribuan warga tampak sudah memadati jalan menuju serambi masjid meskipun rombongan peserta gunungan Grebeg Mulud belum tampak. Tradisi besar Keraton Surakarta ini ternyata tidak hanya menarik minat ribuan warga dan wisatawan lokal saja tetapi juga tampak beberapa turis asing ikut berdesak-desakan di antara kerumunan.

Iring-iringan gunungan Grebeg Mulud yang ditunggu akhirnya datang dan mulai memasuki halaman Masjid Agung sekitar jam 11 kurang. Abdi dalem keraton tampak menandu empat gunungan Grebeg Mulud yang terdiri dari dua gunungan laki-laki dan dua gunungan perempuan. Selain itu terdapat juga gunugan anak-anak dan ancak canthoka yang terlihat ditandu di antara dan di belakang gunungan laki-laki dan perempuan.

Ribuan warga yang berdiri di kanan dan kiri jalan makin berdesakan sesaat setelah sesaji memasuki serambi masjid. Suasana pun makin berjubel dan sulit diatur. Pengunjung makin tidak sabar ketika sesaji sudah tertata rapi di serambi masjid dan doa mulai dibacakan.

Tanpa diberi aba-aba, beberapa saat kemudian pengunjung yang mengerumuni serambi masjid mulai berebut gunungan yang sudah didoakan. Mereka yang berada di belakang juga tak mau ketinggalan hingga keruunan semakin tak teratur. Dari segala arah, massa merangsek ke satu arah saja, ke serambi masjid dimana yang lain sudah mulai berebut gunungan.

Tradisi Grebeg Mulud yang masih lestari dan rutin diadakan oleh Keraton Surakarta memang menjadi tradisi yang paling ditunggu dan digemari. Tradisi grebeg yang menjadi perayaan lahirnya Nabi Muhammad SAW ini menjadi grebeg yang diangggap paling berprospek di antara tiga grebeg yang rutin digelar keraton.

Grebeg Mulud yang dinilai paling berprospek ini juga dipercaya akan kesakralannya. Karena itu tak sedikit dari pengunjung yang datang dalam puncak perayaan ini untuk ikut berebut sesaji gunungan yang mereka percaya memiliki tuah atau juga berkah.

Sekaten or the commemoration of Prophet Muhammad SAW’s birth has reached its peak at Thursday, January 24th, 2013. As usual, the commemoration was celebrated with the distribution of gunungan, cone-shaped offerings, from Kasunanan Court of Surakarta to public.

Locals called the distribution as Grebeg Mulud because it celebrated at Mulud month (Javanese month) or Rabiul Awal month (Islamic month), the Prophet’s birth month. The celebration was hold at the Grand Mosque though the offerings were made in the Palace.

Thousands of locals filled the Surakarta Grand Mosque just to see and get some parts of the offering which is traditionally believed to be a blessing. The Kasunanan Court of Surakarta distributed four cone-shaped offerings this year which filled with traditional food and harvests.

The crowd was getting wild when the Court’s soldiers that paraded the offerings get into the yard of the mosque. It was at 11 a.m. when the offerings arrived at the mosque. Before it was being distributed to public, the offerings were lined up inside the Mosque’s porch to be blessed first.

There were two kinds of offerings, gunungan kakung (male offerings shaped like Lingam) and gunungan putri (female offerings shaped like Yoni). Beside the four giant cone-shaped offerings, there were several other offerings called gunungan anakan (little gunungan) and ancak canthoka.

After the blessing ceremonies, thousands of locals fought and snatched for share of the offerings or gunungan’s parts. Thousands people and thousands hands were crowded in the Mosque’s porch just to get the distributed offerings.

It was not an easy business to get a part of the offerings at this stage. There were thousand others that have the same mission. Getting and eating parts of it is a traditional belief to gain luck and blessing.

Grebeg Mulud is a well known traditional ceremony among other grebeg ceremonies. Because of that, every year there are thousands of locals or people around Solo gather in the Grand Mosque just to see the famous traditional ceremony of the Kasunanan Court of Surakarta. Beside Grebeg Mulud, the Kasunanan Court of Surakarta used to hold other ceremonies named Grebeg Besar at Eid al-Adha and Grebeg Syawal at Eid al-Fitr.