Important Royal Ceremonies

The ceremony is held on the 12th of Maulud - the third month in Javanese calendar - to commemorate the birth of Mohammed the Holy Prophet. For about a week, the people of Yogyakarta celebrate this event with a festival called Sekaten. At the end of this festival the Kraton's soldiers in their traditional and colorful uniforms will be on marching-squad escort the Gunungan (mountain-shaped cones, containing rice and ornamented with vegetables, fruit, and other foodstuffs) carried from a quarter of the Sultan's Palace to the Great Mosque. After the praying ceremony in the mosque, some of the Gunungan will be distributed among those attending the ceremony called Gerebeg. The interesting and attractive pageantry of those Royal soldiers with the Gunungan procession is also held on two other Gerebeg occasions namely :

Gerebeg Syawal
Held on the 1st of the tenth Javanese month of Syawal, after the end of the fasting month of Ramadhan.

Gerebeg Besar
Held on the 10th of the last month of Javanese calendar to celebrate the religious festival based on the Abraham's faith-test whether he intended to sacrifice one of his sons as a token absolute loyalty to God or not.

Labuhan
Labuhan ceremony is held to celebrate the birth of Sri Sultan Hamengku Buwono. "Labuh" in Javanese means throw something to the river or to the sea. The offering from the Yogyakarta's Sultanate Palace consist of food, and cuttings of fingernails and hair of Sultan that will be thrown to the South Sea (Indian Ocean). The offering is intends to be presented to the Goddess of the South Sea, Kanjeng Ratu Kidul. It is believed that by performing the ceremony, the King and the people of Yogyakarta will get their welfare. The same ceremony is also held on the top of mount Merapi and Lawu.

http://www.geocities.com/in_yogyakarta/cultural_performances.html