Lake Toba Festival (Festival Danau Toba 2013) that was originally planned for June-July, has now been postponed to 8 – 14 September 2013 to allow districts all over North Sumatra to better prepare themselves to participate and to make the event into an exceptional occasion for the public and tourists alike. The Festival will cover comprehensive activities from music, arts and crafts, to traditional sports competitions to environment conservation activities.
To be held by the Regency of Samosir, at the Batu Hoda Beach by Simanindo on Samosir island and at the Open Stage of Pangururan at Pasir Putih Parbaba, the Lake Toba Festival takes the theme: Arga do Bona ni Pinasa, meaning the Most Meaningful Village. The island of Samosir, which lies in the middle of the expansive Lake Toba, is believed to be the birthplace of all Batak clans who are now spread over a large area in North Sumatra.
In the Arts and crafts, the Festival will feature traditional Tortor dance competitions, Gondang, drama , carving, Ulos weaving competitions, and of course there will be an Ulos Fashion Show. There will also be competitions in story telling, drama, and a whole lot more. The entire gamut will showcase the many and varied Batak cultural expressions.
Of course an important feature will be the choir competitions. The Batak are famous for their beautiful and powerful singing voices and church choirs that can mesmerize entire congregations.
Main feature of the Festival will be the revival of almost forgotten traditional sports that are hoped to be included in national competitions. Among these are Margala. (hide and seek), Umban or catapult competition, reminder how in the Bible, David succeeded to kill Goliath with a simple catapult. There will also be marukkor (diving) , marlage (long distance swimming) competition, dragon boat races, and more.
At the same time, hotels, homestays and villages will be kept busy cleaning up the environment, planting trees, and there will be competitions to be nominated for the Tourist Village category which requires innovations and creativity. Meanwhile, bands and singers will enliven this one week event.
