I live in Indonesia, precisely on the western part of Java Island. The native people live in west Java are called the Sundanese or Sundanese tribe.

My mother is naturally a Sundanese as she is a daughter of a Sundanese couple. But my father is not, he is a Palembangnese, his father was from Palembang Island in South Sumatera, and his mother came from Jakarta.

Because most of Indonesians hold paternalism way in their family, as a child I belong to my father’s tribe; that is a Palembangnese. But in practice, my family mostly does the Sundanese rituals instead of the Palembangnese. For instance, my sisters and I wear Sundanese traditional clothes when we married, we often listen to Sundanese songs, eat the way other Sundanese eat, and behave in strict manners to our elders.

Some of you may wonder who the Sundanese really are. According to the Wikipedia, the Sundanese are...

The Sundanese are an ethnic group native to the western part of the Indonesian island of Java. They number approximately 31 million. The Sundanese are predominantly Muslim. The Sundanese have traditionally been concentrated in the provinces of West Java, Banten and Jakarta, and the western part of Central Java. The provinces of Central Java and East Java are home to the Javanese, Indonesia's largest ethnic group.

The capital of Indonesia, Jakarta, is located in West Java Province. But even though it lies on West Java land, Jakarta has its own local government, that is the government of DKI Jakarta Province.

The capital of West Java it self is Bandung city, an exotic city surrounded with hills and mountains.

To reach Bandung from Jakarta, you must go through Bogor city, or else known as the rain city (this is because the rain often falls on Bogor, and thunder storms often happen there), and Cianjur city, or else known as the paddy city (Cianjur has lots of paddy fields that produce rice for all Indonesians).

In all of the cities in West Java, except Jakarta, the traditional language spoken is Sundanese language. The language is quite different from Indonesian language, the national language of Indonesia, as it is hierarchial; means that the language spoken to elder people and younger ones are not the same.

Most Sundanese are very strict when it comes to daily behavior against the elders. They honor the older people; speak to them in tender and polite ways, and don’t act rude to them. That’s why Sundanese people are very well known as warm and tender people, and behave very careful against others.

The famous traditional cultures the Sundanese have are:

• Traditional dance

• Traditional language

• Traditional clothings

• Traditional songs

• Traditional music instruments

• Traditional crafts

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