“How do people celebrate Christmas in Indonesia?” an American friend asked me a few weeks ago. That’s a hard question to answer since Christmas is not an all-inclusive cultural holiday here as it is in some countries. It is a religious holiday. Only Protestants and Catholics put up Christmas trees in their homes and attend Christmas services. Non-Christians do not – with the exception of political figures who attend Christmas celebrations in a show of solidarity. Christmas in Indonesia definitely has a different feel to it than it does in the United States where eight out of ten non-Christians, including atheists and agnostics, celebrate Christmas, according to a December 2013 Pew Research Center poll.
How people celebrate Christmas in Indonesia depends in large part upon where they live. In areas where Christians are in the majority, such as Papua, Ambon, N. Sulawesi, Timor, and Sumba, homes, churches and malls are decorated with Christmas trees and lighted displays by the first week of December and stay up until the end of January. The months of December and January are literally packed with Christmas programs put on by churches, schools, universities, clubs, ethnic-based groups, families, and neighborhood associations.
Go to the province of Aceh at the tip of Sumatra, however - the only province governed by Sharia law - and you will experience something entirely different. In Aceh Christmas and New Year celebrations are officially banned because Muslims there are only allowed to observe holidays which are included in the Islamic calendar or culture. Christians in Aceh are forced to celebrate Christmas in the privacy of their own homes.
And what about the province of Central Java where we live? In our area Muslims greatly out-number Christians, but there is a lot of mixing of religions within families. The mother might be Christian, the father Buddhist, and the in-laws Muslim. This helps to create greater religious tolerance than might be found in other areas of Indonesia. Our Muslim friends do not celebrate Christmas. Neither do they worry, however, that attending a Christmas concert or having their picture taken with Santa in the mall will compromise their faith. Every year we receive Christmas cards and text messages from Muslim friends and neighbors wishing us a Merry Christmas. For us, those are the most heart-warming greetings of all.
It is our hope and prayer that the Christmas spirit we see here in Central Java will engage people of all faiths in Indonesia. May that spirit shine, bringing goodness and light to all!
How people celebrate Christmas in Indonesia depends in large part upon where they live. In areas where Christians are in the majority, such as Papua, Ambon, N. Sulawesi, Timor, and Sumba, homes, churches and malls are decorated with Christmas trees and lighted displays by the first week of December and stay up until the end of January. The months of December and January are literally packed with Christmas programs put on by churches, schools, universities, clubs, ethnic-based groups, families, and neighborhood associations.
Go to the province of Aceh at the tip of Sumatra, however - the only province governed by Sharia law - and you will experience something entirely different. In Aceh Christmas and New Year celebrations are officially banned because Muslims there are only allowed to observe holidays which are included in the Islamic calendar or culture. Christians in Aceh are forced to celebrate Christmas in the privacy of their own homes.
And what about the province of Central Java where we live? In our area Muslims greatly out-number Christians, but there is a lot of mixing of religions within families. The mother might be Christian, the father Buddhist, and the in-laws Muslim. This helps to create greater religious tolerance than might be found in other areas of Indonesia. Our Muslim friends do not celebrate Christmas. Neither do they worry, however, that attending a Christmas concert or having their picture taken with Santa in the mall will compromise their faith. Every year we receive Christmas cards and text messages from Muslim friends and neighbors wishing us a Merry Christmas. For us, those are the most heart-warming greetings of all.
It is our hope and prayer that the Christmas spirit we see here in Central Java will engage people of all faiths in Indonesia. May that spirit shine, bringing goodness and light to all!