It's a bird! It's a plane! It's a Situbondo chicken?

ID Nugroho , The Jakarta Post , Situbondo Fri, 11/28/2008 10:57 AM Java Brew

Ahmad Junaedi's hand stroked the body of Kancil, his pet chicken, from its head to the tip of its tail.

Occasionally his fingers would massage the brisket of the white-winged chicken. He stretched the bird like a gymnastics trainer going through a warm-up routine with his beloved athlete.

On this particular Sunday, Kancil was racing in the final competition of ayam sap-sap (chicken ceremony).

"This is the final. That's why Kancil has to be truly fit," Junaedi said.

Ayam sap-sap is a traditional competition held by the Pasir Putih coastal community of Situbondo Regency, East Java, around 180 kilometers from Surabaya.

This one is different from other chicken events that are carried out in other regions around the country.

Ayam sap-sap is unique, in that it requires a chicken to fly from a boat out at sea toward the mainland.

Can chickens fly?

That's the contest's unique property. The ayam sap-sap forces its contestants to fly as far as possible toward the mainland -- the one that flies the farthest is declared the winner.

"There is a way to choose chickens so that they can fly far, and that is one of the tricks that has to be mastered to win," Junaedi said.

It is not clear who was the first to introduce this to Situbondo. There are some who say it was adopted from a similar competition held by the community of Kangean Island, not far from Madura Island.

It is also said that the basic idea comes from the traditional culture of sedekah bumi (a thanksgiving ceremony for the earth). Thanksgiving ceremonies performed by farmers -- involving food, plants and livestock, and which are carried out in the middle of the sea -- may have provided the idea for the ayam sap-sap.

The competition was previously held on religious days and national days, such as Indonesian Independence Day, celebrated on Aug. 17.

The Tourist Department in Situbondo then adopted it as an entertainment feature of Situbondo.

"Up to now ayam sap-sap has only been held on the beach of Pasir Putih Situbondo," said Soenarmadji, head of the regional Tours, Destinations and Attractions Division of the East Java Tourist Department.

Because of its unique feature, it's always a highly anticipated event by the local community. Thousands of people from Situbondo and from cities in East Java sit on the beach of Pasir Putih to watch the race.

The chickens always receive a lot of attention from the audience. Before the event, they receive special treatment from their handlers -- they are stroked, massaged and given energy-rich foods, including corn and energy drinks.

The participants must be hens, at least one year old and must be in good physical condition.

The bird's feathers have to be dense, soft and clean. Its wings must be long and dangle down and it must have a long tail. When the most suitable bird has been found it needs to be trained to fly.

In ayam sap-sap, a chicken is thrown into the air -- it then flies toward the mainland. Some of them can fly 300 meters or more.

As the competition date approaches, training becomes more intense, with birds working out almost every day.

Before the race, all birds are examined beforehand by a team of vets provided by the committee.

From the 200 chickens nominated for that Sunday, only 15 made it into the final competition -- including Kancil.

The contestants were taken several hundred meters off the shore by a boat.

Flapping their wings and sailing across the sea to the beach, they could be seen frantically flying toward the shore where onlookers applauded and cheered them on.

Most of the chickens landed safely on the beach; some of them crash-landed in the water.

Junaedi's primed athlete, Kancil, was outdone by a firm competitor called Lorek, who belonged to Rinto from Pasir Putih Situbondo.

"I'm also surprised that Lorek could fly so far," Rinto said.