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Christmas in Indonesia

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Christmas in Indonesia

Christmas in Indonesia, locally known as Natal from the Portuguese word for Christmas, is celebrated with various traditions throughout the country.

Despite the majority of Indonesians being Muslims, Christmas is still widely celebrated in Indonesia. Many Indonesians who are not Christian celebrate Christmas as a secular holiday.

Indonesia has approximately 28 million Christians, of which about 70% are Protestant and 30% are Roman Catholics.

In regions with a Christian majority, both Protestants and Catholics celebrate Christmas with ceremonies and local food. In big cities, shopping centers are decorated with plastic Christmas trees and Santa Claus figures (locally known as Sinterklas, derived from the Dutch word Sinterklaas). Many local television channels broadcast Christmas musical concerts, and the government organizes the annual national Christmas celebration. In addition to traditional foods, there are also unique Christmas Day foods, such as traditional desserts like nastar (pineapple tart) and kastengel (from Dutch word kaasstengel), or 'putri salju'.

In North Jakarta, Indonesians of Portuguese descent live mainly in Kampung Tugu. After Christmas Mass, Christians in Kampung Tugu will visit the cemetery next to their local church and start the rabo-rabo tradition.

The rabo-rabo tradition consists of playing Kroncong music and dancing together around the village area. Locals will sing and visit each other's relatives. Relatives who are visited must later join the game until a chain of players forms on the streets. The visits will continue until they arrive at the last house in the area.

In the Papua region, after Christmas Mass, a ritual cooking of pork for feasting is held using a Barapen (grilling stone). The pork meat is cooked in between hot stones that are heated using wood. Instead of using matches, Papuan people scrape the wood continuously to produce heat to set it on fire. In order to prepare the Barapen, Papuan men dig a hole to put the hot stones in. At the same time, Papuan women prepare vegetables such as sweet potato, water spinach, fern, cassava, spinach, and papaya. Hot stones are stacked on the base of the hole and the pork and vegetables are put into the hole and covered with another layer of hot stones. The pork is cooked in the hole for half a day. The tradition of Barapen is an expression of gratitude, togetherness, sharing, and love, characterised by eating pork together.

In Negeri Naku, South Leitimur, Ambon, there is a ceremony called cuci negeri (cleaning the nation). This ceremony symbolises the purification and liberation of sins from the local people and their environment. The cuci negeri starts with a gathering in the community function hall for each clan to hold their own traditional ritual. From there, the Ambonese walk to the traditional function hall. They sing and dance to the sounds of the tifa (traditional music instrument). Along the way, the women bring some offerings like betel, areca nut, and traditional drink called sopi. During Christmas Eve celebrations in the Maluku, church bells will ring and ships will sound their sirens.

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