0999 INDONESIA (Java) - Being the owner of a cock makes him proud

The truth is that the cock from the postcard is a really beautiful one. At first I believe that is a fighting cock, especially that cockfighting is a very old tradition in Balinese Hinduism, but then I realized that can't be, because it has big comb and wattle, and at the fighting cocks these are removed, because they would be a disadvantage during a match. Moreover, the man is Javanese. Anyway, the rooster is an important animal for many ethnic groups from Indonesia, of different religions. I don't know much about birds, so I can't say precisely what breed is, probably Bekisar or Kedu.

The man wears on the head a blangkon (or belangkon), a traditional Javanese headdress made of batik fabric. There are four different types of blangkons according to their shapes and origins: Ngayogyakarta blangkons, Surakarta blangkons, Kedu blangkons, and Banyumasan blangkons. Some theories state that the use of blangkon is the influence of Hindu and Islamic culture, it deriving from turbans worn by Gujarati traders. It are believed to originate from the legendary story of Aji Saka. He also wears a sarong (meaning "sheath" in Indonesian and Malay), a length of fabric wrapped around the waist. It is widespread in South and Southeast Asia, Arabian Peninsula, Horn of Africa, and in many Pacific islands. In Indonesia it is generally known as a kain sarung (sarong cloth) except for in Bali where it carries the name kamben.

About the stamps
The first stamp, depicting a Invisible Rail (Habroptila wallacii), is part of the series Indonesia's Threatened Bird Species, about which I wrote here.

The second stamp is part of a serie of two dedicated to Ratu Boko Palace, designed by Tata Sugiarta and issued on February 20, 2013. Ratu Boko is an archaelogical site in the form of royal palace of Old Mataram Kingdom from 8th century. Both stamps are the same face value (2.500 IDR):
1/2 Keraton Ratu Boko - It's on the postcard 0999
2/2 Sumunaring Abhayagiri - It's on the postcard 1946

The last stamp is part of a series issued on June, 14, 2013, on the occasion of the celebrations of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the Indonesian Archaeological Institute (Lembaga purbakala):
• a bas-relief (Ramayana story) of the Prambanan temple
• a mural (Leang Uhallie) in a cave in the region of Bone (South Sulawesi).
Prambanan temple (Candi Lara Jonggrang) is a set of 240 Shiva temples, built from the 11th century (Sanjaya Dynasty) in the center of the island of Java, near the city of Yogyakarta, UNESCO World Heritage site since 1991. 

References
Sarong - Wikipedia

sender: Fathia Rahma (direct swap)
sent from Yogyakarta (Java / Indonesia), on 18.01.2014
photo: Agus Leonardus