While most Christians tend to commemorate the birth of Jesus on December 25, Indonesians celebrate Christmas in more diverse ways than we can imagine.
If you are bored of picturing Santa with a long beard, riding magic reindeers, then picture this! The Indonesian Santa has a short, trimmed beard and knocks at peoples doors, speaking fluent Javanese! He doesn't wear the red long sleved costume, instead, he goes for the
traditional striped lurik (an Indigenous Javanese handwoven fabric.)
Living in a tropical country, this Santa doesn't ride a sleigh pulled by magical reindeer, instead, he pedals a rickshaw followed by elves.
In East Java's Poh Sarang church, the Choir sings songs in Javanese along with the pentatonic melody of a group of traditional musicians playing gamelan.
The traditional foods vary but one very popular food is dodol. The sweet sticky cake made of glutinous rice replaces the Western style Christmas cakes or ginger bread.
These are only a few of the many traditions that the Indonesians hold.
Friday 5 December 2014
Thursday 4 December 2014
Ambon, Flores and Papua
Ambon, Flores and Papua
In Flores, Cristmas is usually associated with bamboo cannons. That are fired everywhere on Christmas eve. Young children usually stay up the whole night on December 24, while playing fireworks.
In Ambon, sirens and church bells can be heard throughout the city. This usually leads to family gatherings.
Aside from that, many areas are decorated with Christmas decorations and 24 hour music is played.
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| Christmas in Papua |
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| Bamboo Cannon |
Traditions
Traditions
There are many amazing and unique christmas traditions that the Indonesians go by.
On Christmas Eve and Christmas day, Indonesians usually go to church service. In most churches, people create nativity scenes and use them as nativity plays.
Indonesians have a variety of different materials that they use to decorate.
Most Indonesian homes use an artificial christmas tree. Some others have pine trees decorated as normal christmas trees. Another UNIQUE christmas tree is one made out of chicken feathers! These Christmas trees are incredibly soft and are homemade in Bali. These feather trees have been exported to different countries around the world. There are also huge Christmas trees made out of edible chocolate made by Indonesian chocolate factories!
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| Chicken Feather tree! |
In Indonesia, Santa Claus is named 'Sinterklas' (that's because Indonesia used to be ruled by Holland)
Cookies are a must-have food during Christmas in Indonesia. Some popular types of cookies include 'Nastar' a butter cookie with pineapple jam filling, cheese cookies called 'Kastengel' and 'Putri Salju' or 'Snow White' cookies, a butter cookie covered with powdered sugar and cheese!
Wednesday 3 December 2014
Christmas in Indonesia (a view on my blog)
Christmas in Indonesia
Indonesia is a wonderful place full of life and laughter. Everywhere that you turn, you see a smile. Indonesians are lovely people that go by tradition, which is why, I chose to research Indonesian Christmas.
As you read my blog, you will notice that Indonesia is not just festive and colourful, they are also kind and good people by heart.
They respect, not just themselves, but one another. They really care abut their country and ways they can improve.
As I researched Indonesia, I realised that Indonesia is not just a relaxing holiday hotspot, it is also a place where you can make loyal friends and learn about a totally new side of culture and style of living.
I hope that you enjoy reading my blog.
-Olivia Berti
Manado
Manado
Christmas is celebrated in many different ways all around the world. Even though Indonesia is only 10% of Indonesia's population is catholic, there are still 250, 000 people that are catholic/Cristian. There are many different cities in Indonesia, and I am going to talk about 1 of them.
Manado have a very unique and fun tradition. In Manado, Christmas celebrations begin on the 1st december with pre-christmas practices leading up to the 25th december.
Many also have the tradition of visiting graves of loved ones after Christmas but before New Years Eve. During that period, the graves are decorated with Christmas lights and tinsel.
Christmas celebrations continue until the first Sunday of January, where it ends with the kunci taon tradition where the community parades the streets and villages in cute and entertaining costumes.
Kunci Taon is a parade in Manado and is another very unique tradition. In this parade, the people don't use typical garbs and decorations, instead, they put on some funny, garish and weird costumes! The parade is held on the first week of January, but is still considered a christmas tradition.
To watch Kunci Taon, click on this link! : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JpDKmfqPdo
To give feedback on my blog, please visit Forum on Olivia's blog
To give feedback on my blog, please visit Forum on Olivia's blog
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