Family, Bingo and Other Christmas Tales from Jakarta

For a country in which almost 90 percent of the population are Muslims, christmas turns out to be an extremely profitable business.
I even know people who, although they are not Christian, exchange christmas presents. While I don’t think that this necessarily a bad thing, I have grown somewhat tired of the commercialization of this particular holiday – and the readiness of the people to give into it.
The same might be true for my home country Germany, but I can better relate to the situation there, because the majority of the population actually celebrates christmas according to their beliefs.
What I don’t miss though (and many have been saying to me that they do) is a real winter and a white christmas.
A tropical christmas feels indeed different – but to me, it feels much better.
For me personally, christmas means spending time with my family, and that is something that I can observe here in Jakarta as well.
Indonesians love to socialize, they love to gather, they love to come together and have a chit chat. My Indonesian side of the family makes no exception.
Normally, it works like this: Christmas Eve is reserved for the immediate family, a more intimate affair that most probably includes a visit to the church, a nice dinner and maybe a bottle of wine.
On the 25 th, the extended family gets together, often at the house of the oldest living family member.
This is quite different from what I have ever experienced back in Germany: the actual rituals and traditions may remain the same, but the scale and dimensions are so much larger.
Instead of five, there are suddenly 50 people.
Instead of singing christmas carols, we play Bingo.
Doesn’t sound like christmas? Well, that’s how I have celebrated christmas in Jakarta many times.
However, my German side still shines through from time to time.
I do enjoy having everyone around. But I am also quite happy when I can finally go to bed at night after a long evening of too much eating and endless small talk.
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@katrinfigge