Karapan Sapi : Bull Races in Madura

Karapan sapi is a term for the race race of calves originating from the island of Madura, East Java. In this race, a pair of cows that pull a kind of wooden train (where the jockey stands and control the pair) is driven in a fast race against other couples. The track is usually about 100 meters and the race can take about ten seconds to a minute. Several cities in Madura organize cattle raids in August and September each year, with the final game in late September or October in the former Kota Karesidenan, Pamekasan for the rotating President’s Cup.

In November of 2013, the administration of the President’s Cup was renamed the Governor’s Cup. [1]

History

The beginning of the cattle rearing on the back of the less fertile land of Madura for agricultural land, instead of Madurese divert their livelihoods as fishermen for coastal areas and raising cattle that are also used for farming, especially in plowing rice fields or fields.

Once a scholar Sumenep named Syeh Ahmad Baidawi (Prince Katandur) who introduced the way of farming by using a pair of bamboo known as Madurese people called “nanggala” or “salaga” with two cows. The initial intent of Karapan Sapi is to get strong cows to plow the fields. Madurese raise cattle and work on their fields as soon as possible. This idea then gave rise to the tradition of karapan sapi. Karapan sapi soon becomes a routine activity every year especially after the harvest season runs out. Karapan Cow is preceded by parading the cattle pairs around the racetrack to the accompaniment of saronen music.

Implementation of Cowbell

Implementation of Karapan Sapi is divided into four rounds, namely: first half, all cows pitted speed in two pairs to separate the winning group and the losing group. In this round all the winning cows and the losers can compete again in accordance with the group.

The second round or the re-election round, the pair of cows in the winning group will be re-contested, as well as the cows in the losing group, and in this round all the couples of the winning and losing groups should not compete again unless a few pairs of cows that occupy the sequence tops in each group.

Third round or semifinal, at this stage each winning cow in each group is pitted back to determine three pairs of winning cows and three cows from the losing group. In the fourth or final round, held to determine the 1st, 2nd and 3rd winner of the losing group.

source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karapan_sapi