Today was Hari Kemerdekaan, Indonesian’s independence day. (Fun fact: Indonesia has been an indepedent nation since 1945.) Today’s festivities included a ceremony at school complete with marching, the raising of the flag, singing patriotic songs and an inspirational speech by our school’s vice principal. There was also supposedly a televised broadcast from Jakarta at 10 a.m. where some sort of proclamation was read. However, I missed out on that because my three-year-old host niece was absorbed in a lively episode of Teletubbies, and I didn’t have the heart to change the channel.
Other than that today was rather uneventful, which supposedly is not the norm. The reason independence day was relatively downplayed this year is due to the fact that we are in the midst of Ramadan, the Islamic fasting month. So all of the activities that would have occurred today were held during the previous few weeks and before Ramadan began. That just goes to show how big a role religion plays here in Indonesia. Ramadan took precendence over the independence day activities by pushing the usual celebrations to the fringes to accommodate for prayer and fasting.
So this Ramadan business, what’s that all about?
Ramadan is the ninth month on the Islamic Calendar, which differs from the Gregorian Calender that most go by. Now I don’t want to get too into religion, especially because I know relatively little of Islam. However, being that Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world (86% of the people here are Muslim and Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world) it is extremely pertinent to my experience here. So what I’m sharing here are just my understanding and experience of Ramadan so far, not any sort of commentary on it or Islam.
The dates Ramadan falls between change every year. This year it just so happened to coincide with August. So we are just over halfway through Ramadan, which ends the 30th with Hari Raya or Idul Fitri. (This is the largest Islamic clebration of the year, and we’ll get to that when the time comes.)
Ramadan is marked by fasting. Fasting is one of the five pillars of Islam which are central values and actions Muslims carry out in their faith. During the entire month Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset. This begins with waking up around 3 a.m. to take part in sahur, the morning meal, while it is still dark out and before the fast begins. Fasting includes not partaking ofeth food, nor drink (including water), nor smoking or chewing gum. I’ m also told that you should abstain from lying, succumbing to gossip, getting angry, and any other bad habits and behaviors. That’s not to say you can give into your whims any other time or once darkness falls, just that you are supposed to try especially hard not to do these things from sunrise to sunset. Those exempt from fasting are children, menstruating and pregnant women, and the sick. Occasionally, devout children will choose to fast for half of the day (from 4 a.m. to noon.)
As the day draws to a close, the parched and hungry population seems to perk up at the thought of it being almost time for berbuka, the meal that “breaks the fast.” As the sun sets, the daily call to prayer signals berbuka from the local mosque, radio or TV set and after 14-ish hours families sit down together to indulge a bit and break the fast.
The fasting is meant to cleanse the body and mind and ultimately grow deeper in a one”s faith in attempt to live it out and be a good person. (I’m not sure why the ninth month is the month for fasting as opposed to any other month on the Islamic Calender, but when I ask I am simply told because that’s the rule. Or that’s the way it is. So if you know, let me know!) Fasting is also meant to allow a person to empathize with the less fortunate who actually go hungry and thirsty on a daily basis. When Ramadan concludes, I’m told people go to the mosque to give back to those less fortunate through food donations and more. They also at this time ask family and friends for forgiveness from past wrongdoings.
For the past two weeks I’ve been taking part in all this, including the whole waking up at 3 a.m. to eat thing. Promptly after eating I would return to bed, belly full, to try and sleep a few more hours before it was time for school. After two weeks, I’m throwing in the towel. Well, kind of.
I found the fasting part not to be too hard, especially so, when you avoid food altogether. Being thirsty was unfortunate and led me to cheat a bit with a few small sips from my water bottle behind closed doors. The one thing that just really wasn’t jiving with me though was the whole not gettingt angry and being nice to people. That was asking a bit much because as we all know I’m a force to be reckoned with on your typical day. Actually not at all really. I did experience heightened grumpiness and lethargy due to having no energy because I wasn’t getting my immediate caloric needs met. But, the thing that really wasn’t working out was the disrupted sleep patterns, especially because I have yet to get my body into any sort of consistent circadian rhythm here.
Although everyone here has told me fasting is healthy for you, I’m not sure if I believe it. I feel the unhealthiest I’ve ever felt between groggy mornings, dehydration (we are in a tropical climate after all), less energy and oscillating between depriving my body all day then over-satiating it come meal time. Maybe that’s what it is supposed to feel like though. I’m not sure. So I sort of amended my fasting to mimic the children that fast for half days. I now sleep normal hours, and when I awake, I eat and then fast for the remainder of the day until berbuka. I just can’t keep up with the Indonesians, and nor am I obligated to. I simply was curious in experiencing and undertstanding the culture. To be honest, I also wanted to know if I could hack it and I think after two weeks I’ve sufficiently proven to myself that it is possible but not pleasant. So that’s where I’m at, and that’s a small snipet of Ramadan for you.
And now, since it is Hari Kemerdekaan after all. I’d like to leave you with a few photos from an adorable children’s parade held a few week’s back to celebrate the country’s 66th birthday…
…except not really because the internet is too slow at the moment, photos coming soon..
Update: Here’s those photos. I think despite the fact that the childers look absolutely terrified, they are all very imut, or cute!
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Tags: Culture, Hari Kemerdekaan, holidays, Ramadan, Wonderment in Indoland