Hoppin' down the bunny trail

It's Easter time here in Jakarta. There are no daffodils or Easter lilies. There do seem to be an abundance of orchids everywhere and beautiful roses in arrangements throughout the hotel. Haven't seen any rose bushes in Jakarta, so I don't know where they are coming from. But have seen huge arrangements with yellow roses and white roses mixed with assorted orchids, star gazer lilies and other tropical lovelies. Gorgeous!

Yes, it is true, and probably surprising to you, that Easter is celebrated here. Tomorrow is Good Friday and it is a public holiday. Christmas is also a public holiday. In fact, the Indonesian system for celebrating religeous holidays is one I kind of like.

First off, you must declare which religion you want to be affiliated with. You do not get to say, don't have one, don't believe in one, don't whatever. For those of you who don't know too much about Indonesia (and I was amoung your ranks before I found out sweetie pie and I were moving here)Islam is the major religion weighing in with about 88% of the poplulation. Christians make up about 8% of the population, Hindus about 2%, Buddhists about 2% and Animists about 1%. Going to have to look up what Animists are, but I feel sure they are not related to Greenpeace. These are not exact percentages so please forgive that it adds up to 101%. They are just guidelines anyway.

Now about those public holidays. These are also called "red days" because they are indicated in red on the calendars. Here are the holidays on my 2010 calendar. January 1 - New Year's Day, February 14 - Chinese New Year, February 26 - Birthday of Prophet Muhammad, March 16 - Hindu New Year, April 2 - Good Friday, May 13 - Ascension of Jesus Christ, May 28 - Buddhist Waisak Day, July 10 - Ascension of Prophet Muhammad, August 17 - Indonesia Independence Day, September 10 and 11 - Idul Fitri, Novemember 17 - Idul Adha, December 7 - Islamic New Year, December 25 - Christmas. As you can see, every religion gets some kind of holiday on the calendar, except for those pesky Animist. You also noticed, I am sure, that there are some holiday designations that you might not be familiar with. Since I am learning about these things too, I will fill in what I know or have found on line about them.

Buddhist Waisak Day - "This is a Buddhist holiday to celebrate the anniversary of Gautama Buddha, the founder of Buddhism.

This celebration is enlivened by religious and social activities in Buddhist temples around the country. In Indonesia, the largest Buddhist temples, Candi Mendut and Candi Borobudur, both located in the Magelang Regency of Central Java not far from Yogyakarta, are the focus of interest and attract those observing the holiday and tourists.

Three major historical events are celebrated on Waisak. The first is the birth of Siddhartha Gautama. The second is the acceptance of the divine revelation under the Bodhi tree. And the third is the journey of Siddhartha Gautama to heaven."

Idul Fitri - "Idul Fitri, more commonly referred to in Indonesia as Lebaran, is the celebration that comes at the end of the Muslim month of fasting, Ramadhan. The Arabic meaning of Idul Fitri is “becoming holy again”.

The dates of the ninth month of the Muslim calendar, Ramadan, vary from year to year, as the Muslim calendar (Hijrah) is based on a lunar cycle of 29 or 30 days. The exact date is determined by the sighting of the new moon. These lunar calculations lead to an official announcement by the government on the eve of Ramadan and Idul Fitri so that the faithful know when to begin and end the fasting month. To understand the significance of Lebaran, an understanding about the fasting month of Ramadhan is important. During the month of Ramadhan, Muslims must refrain from eating, drinking, smoking, marital relations or getting angry during the daylight hours. In addition, those fasting are supposed to refrain from bad habits - lying, getting angry, using bad language as well as to be more diligent in prayer and give to charities. It is believe that fasting heightens spirituality and develops self-control."

Idul Adah - Is kind of a small version of Idul Fitri, and is celebrated in the tenth month of the Muslim calendar.

The other holidays should be pretty self explanatory and some are celebrated in the US so none of my wonderful commentary is needed.

I saw a fair amount of Easter decorations in the malls and the grocery stores for the last few weeks. There were even egg painting contests listed at various locations. Egg hunting seems to be popular with folks who I don't think celebrate Easter for the same reasons we do. But they seemed to love it just as much. However, there are places on the island of Java where there are more serious religious participants. There are holy pilgrimages followed beginning on Holy Thursday, Good Friday, Saturday and conclude on Easter Sunday. There were several articles in the paper covering them and the significance of Easter to some of the folks who live here. I found that most interesting.

We joined friends at the Ritz Carlton for a wonderful brunch. Even though it was not specifically for Easter, it was delightful. Here at our hotel, they went all out for Easter. In the picture at the top of the post is a the Easter scene that was constructed on the lowest lobby of the hotel. Obviously, it is directed toward children. What makes this really unique is that the entire scene is made from chocolate. From the walls down to the green grass - all chocolate and hand made at that. They put up a rope barricade to keep us hungry folks from gnawing on the ears of those large bunnies sitting in the foreground or scooping up a handful of the green tinted white chocolate grass and chowing down as we would pass by on our way to the restaraunt. It smells so good. You just stand there and take deep breaths and feel like you are in Hersey Heaven.

Sorry Animist. Get your own holiday.