The Prince of Middle East: Chinese Tradition in Indonesia

As I posted before the Ching beng festival. I would like to post an essay about Chinese tradition in Indonesia. And here we go.

Chinese Tradition in Indonesia

We can find the most common tradition of Chinese in some public places in Indonesia, these days. We can find the Barongsai* or the Liong* in lunar new year festival. Chinese tradition is not really based on the scripture and most of them are ideology and philosophy of Chinese. Chinese tradition in Indonesia is actually same with the tradition in China. However, the Chinese tradition in Indonesia is not enough well known. Here are some tradition which is not really promoted well.

There is Cap go meh day after fifteen day of lunar new year festival. In the tradition believed that all the Goddess fall down to earth to bless the earth against all possibilities accident. There are also lot of stories about Cap Go Meh that can be long if I explain it. Second, there is Ching Beng festival(4-5 in the 4^th month of lunar calendar). In this tradition, all Chinese go to cemetery to have prayer to their beloved parents or ancestors. Some of them will follow the ritual in Buddhism, and some follow the ritual by the ideology. Next is Tuan Wu Jie festival (5 at the 5^th month of lunar calendar). In this festival, all Chinese will eat *Bacang to commemorate a hero against the era of corruption in China which is a prime minister in long long time ago. Some believed the Bacang must be thrown in the river or the sea, because in the story the prime minister is not trusted by the king, so he got dead punishment and his body had thrown to the bottom of the river or sea. People who had respect at that time believed that he is taken by the Goddess of Sea and by throwing the Bacang into the river or sea will give him food to eat. Some believed Bacang is for the fishes in the sea to eat so the body of the hero will not eaten by the fishes. Fourth, there is Chong Yen Jie(15 at the 7^th month). festival. In this festival Chinese will give rice to poor people and some will have prayer to their beloved parent or ancestor. Next is Cong Cin Jie festival. Chinese will eat Lunar cake. Lunar cake was used to contain a message of rebel against the colonial of Mongolia in 1206 A.D. Some also believed Lunar Cake is to celebrate the raise Goddess of the moon to heaven which fall down to earth in 10 suns story. After that, there is Chong Yan Jie festival(9 at the 9th month). In this festival all Chinese all over the world will come back to their hometown. Some believe they have to pray the born of the Dragon God. The last there is Tong Tzu Jie festival. There is no specific date for this festival. Usually ten days before new year a.d. In this festival, Chinese will eat small colourful onde-onde* with ginger hot water. This festival gathers one big family to celebrate the coming of winter season in China.

That’s all for the tradition. We can see Chinese tradition in Indonesia is not enough promoted. I don’t know about other tradition is enough promoted or not. In my opinion, I think it would be better if Indonesia government promoted the Chinese tradition well. It can put more color of variation of traditions in Indonesia. So, it can be a magnet for tourism to see the colorful of Indonesia.

*Barongsai= A Lion believed in Chinese legend help them from problems. (Lot of version of the problems)

*Liong=Liong is dragon that believed as Chinese’s ancestor.

*Bacang=Preparation of glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, shaped into a diamond, filled with meat, and steamed.

*Onde-onde=Small rounded flour with peanut inside it.

and here are some photos: