Bagong Dam Purifying Ceremony

It was told that in the mid of XVI century, Menak Sopal was absolutely concerned sawing farmers' rice fields that always on dried condition and failed to harvest. Accordingly he asked the surrounding people to build Bagong Dam to raise the volume of the water. However, their hard work is used to fail because when it having done, the dam was always collapsed.

He got a divine inspiration that to avoid the ruin of the dam, a white elephant had to be sacrificed. Then, a series of negotiation with the owner of the white elephant had carried out and Menak Sopal won the negotiation. The White elephant finally managed to be sacrificed.
At the moment, a buffalo is always sacrificed for the purifying ceremony at Bagong Dam as the substitute of the white elephant. Having been slaughtered, the buffalo's head and meat are thrown to the mid of the dam and the people altogether splash into the dam to cather the buffalo's head or meat.

Following the ceremony, a Javanese traditional puppet, telling the story of Udan Mintoya, and pilgrimage to Menak Sopal's tomb are held. Trenggalek people commonly visit the cemetery on every "Kliwon" Friday ( kliwon is one of the five Javanese days divisions).