Shouts of welcome greet a newcoming family. Those of us who are already in the room, seated around a low table that is piled high with food and drink – mostly snacks like garlic-roasted peanuts, small cheese pastries and various kinds of chocolate, as well as cool water and bright fruit syrup – rise to our feet to accept extended hands.
“Selamat Lebaran!” I say.
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“Selamat Lebaran” is the easiest phrase appropriate to the occasion for me to remember and pronounce correctly. In Indonesian it means, essentially, “Congratulations for having made it to the time of Eid al-Fitr.” Among Muslims worldwide Eid al-Fitr is the celebration that occurs at the end of Ramadan. When adherents no longer have to abstain from all food, drink, tobacco and sex during the daylight hours for a whole lunar month, they gather to feast and pray. In Indonesia the customs for Idul Fitri or Lebaran – as Eid al-Fitr is variously called here – differ in more than name from those observed in the rest of Islam. In Indonesia, Lebaran is not just a time to mark the end of the annual fasting month, but to visit family, both living and deceased, and to ask their forgiveness for past wrongs.
“Mohon maaf lahir batin,” many ask of their relatives as they visit or accept them as visitors. “Forgive me body and soul,” is what they are saying and they say it a lot during Lebaran: everywhere they go and to everyone they meet. In fact, one of the most important aspects of Idul Fitri in Indonesia is that Muslims perform mudik: They go home to where their families have their roots and where the eldest among them still live so as to strengthen bonds weakened by time and distance.
During my first year in Indonesia I was told that during Lebaran Jakarta would empty out because of mudik, since so many residents of the capital city had moved there from the hinterlands and would briefly return to their ancestral home towns for the holidays. I waited to see a deserted city, but from my perspective it never really happened. However, there was undoubtedly a change. Not only did most of the sidewalk vendors close shop or stay away, for once letting pedestrians use the space, but car traffic dwindled significantly. On a regular day Jakarta suffers from almost perpetual gridlock just about everywhere because of a drastic overabundance of people and vehicles, but during Lebaran the Indonesian capital becomes like a normal city with a normal flow of traffic and a moderate press of people. Instead of driving five kilometers in two hours at a snail’s pace, one can get there in less than half an hour.
In contrast, those far-flung towns and villages across this vast archipelagic nation suddenly become as bustling and crowded as Jakarta usually is. Once all the people brave the packed planes and boats, or spend interminable hours in buses or cars crawling along jammed highways, they are finally free to spend a day or two praying with family and visiting one house after another to eat and chat for a little while before moving on.
Back in Jakarta the same thing is going on and since the streets are considerably less congested than usual, people find it much easier to get around to perform their familial duties and enjoy the benefits of Lebaran.
After we greet those who came after us and exchange the blanket apologies, we sit back down for a little while longer as the newcomers partake of a bit of the food and some of the drink. The children among them get extra treats: bags of sweets, or small amounts of money, or both. They don’t seem to want to sit still for very long, but are eager to head to the next household and add to their modest but growing Idul Fitri wealth.
Then it’s our turn to do the same, although as adults we are only adding to our waistlines. We stand, thank our hosts and head into the hot day on foot to the next family home, where we once again wish those we meet “Selamat Lebaran”, beg their forgiveness for any and all ills we may have inflicted upon them in the preceding year and then sit down for a short visit, enjoying more cool water and small delicious cakes.
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