1.) Idul Fitri is the holiday that marks the end of the fasting month (Ramadan). It began the night before October 1st at 6 pm as the people broke their last fast of Ramadan and celebrated surviving another year. Late-night parades, continuous loud music from the mosque and fireworks marked this celebration and kept us awake most all night.
2.) The next morning, a mass Call to Prayer was issued. Those of the other religion gathered in droves to the town center (from 5:30am and 8:30am) to perform their ritual prayer, ask Allah for forgiveness for any faults and start life anew for another year – kind of like our “New Year’s Resolutions” on January 1st. It could be described as a “Sea of White” as most all adorned themselves in white to represent cleansing and purity.
3.) Following this ceremony, the Indonesians return to their home to bake. Feasts are attended by family as the younger family members are required to go visit the older, to show respect. Everyone who visits is expected to eat and then offer the common greeting of, "Selamat Hari Raya Idul Fitri" or "maaf lahir dan batin." This is an apology to cover all faults for the year and allows the family and friends to begin afresh with a clean slate, per se.
4.) The second day, the feast continue and more visiting occurs – to more distant relatives, neighbors and family graves. You always start with the closest relatives the first day, then move to the more distant relatives and then the more prestigious neighbors to the less. Pleasantries are exchanged at each visit, more food is eaten and often times, a small gift is given to the host. We visited some of our neighbors who we had begun to develop relationships with. Chicken Soup had been kept warm and was served over rice, as well as finger foods and a warm drink (no drink is served cold here…). We visited as we could and were introduced to the visiting extended family. After offering our small gift, we departed to the next neighbor’s home, only to be given more food and drink. Needless to say, we did not need to eat supper at home that night.
5.) With all this eating, many common items were out of stock at the stores and markets. It took a good 2 weeks for the stores to replenish all the items and for life to resume as normal. Now that the fasting is over, people are definitely more productive and less grumpy again, but still as misguided as ever. Pray for God to open their eyes to the WAY, the TRUTH and the real source of LIFE! For some pictures and videos of their early-morning ceremony on October 1st, visit our Picasa Web Album: http://picasaweb.google.com/flyingAMT/DailyLifeAndCultureInIndonesia#
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