The holiday season in Indonesia

Christmas is taken seriously by Christians (and Catholics because the two are far more separated as religions than we usually bother with in the UK (Not the North of Ireland where they tend to have more 'interesting' views on the two elements of Christianity), but they are only a minority of the population here so most of Christmas is seen as nice decorations in malls and, as luke mentioned in another thread, pretty girls dressed as elves - tell me a better reason to go to a shopping centre.

Photos with Santa are commonly available, often as packages with a gift of some sort and a nice overpriced frame to put it in until your kid realises there isn't a Santa and uses it for a picture of his/her latest crush he/she's downloaded from Instagram.

The vast majority of the population don't give a flying rats either way  about Christmas unless they fancy an excuse to go shopping.
Oh, almost everyone loves the extra holiday as it's a 'red day', or national holiday in Indonesia. Some company bosses, mainly shop owners, have had special lessons in how to pronounce "Humbug" and insist their workers attend by 12 noon on Christmas day in order to open the shop.
"Humbug" is handy for shoppers because it means they can go shopping and eat in the mall so there's none of that messing around cooking turkeys, if you can find one here.
Humbugs are almost impossible to find in any sweet shop.


New year is a great excuse to set of as many fireworks as they can in the most dangerous way possible.
Not all that many houses get burnt down because of the fireworks, so that's nice.


Last year saw us returning from Java on Christmas eve when most people were heading out and the jams into Java weren't funny.
Actually, I'll clarify - The jams weren't funny unless you were heading back into Jakarta, so seeing them from the other side of the road as you were doing 100 KPH on your way home.

After the new year, you return to working eight hours a day, retire then die.

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016 … batam.html

Fireworks safety is a serious issue here

Hello everyone,

Some off topic posts have been removed.

We launched this thread as the festive season is round the corner. It is time for happiness and gatherings. So please guys, share with us your happiest moments during this holiday season.

@saintjean > What about you? Will you spend the holiday season in your host country or in your home country? Will there be expat reunions/celebrations/parties in your region/town/area?

Thank you,
Christine
Expat.com

I'll go with my jaunt to Wonosobo last year and my upcoming few days rest in an Aston hotel.
I like Wonosobo for many reasons, but the hotel are nice mostly because I love the breakfasts and I can chill in the pool.

New Year in Jakarta sees the major tourist spots (Monas, Ancol, Taman Mini) fill up with people. There might be car free night along JL Sudirman as well and so the city shuts down and the traffic backs up early.
Moving from bar to bar is not useful and it is advised to book a table somewhere and stay there, although I can say I have never been caught out in traffic at New Year.

There are loads of places in the city offering good NYE parties and the like. Fireworks galore from around 11pm and often so good ones as well.

Central Park Mall will fill up (toilets are no go areas!!) and therefore I will assume most malls offering NYE fireworks.

I have celebrated NYE in Bali on Kuta beach and it was insane. A full on 5+ hours of fireworks from 7pm to gone Midnight and the beach was full but a great atmosphere although it took some time getting back to the hotel. With the sheer volume of people on the beach and all leaving roughly the same time, instead of 10 minutes to the hotel we were at, it took over 45 minutes but it was worth experiencing.

This year, I am in a hotel in the middle of the city. My neighbourhood wont be doing much as they never do and so it will be nice to stay out and enjoy fireworks and the noise and celebrations in some luxury.

Christine wrote:

. It is time for happiness and gatherings.

For the majority here, Christmas is not much of anything.
It is a nice day or two off work for most, but that's about it.

New year is more of a holiday atmosphere, seeing large gatherings outside 'hangout' venues such as the new cafe culture type shopping centres.

Before I arrived in Indonesia in late 1996 I was resigned to the idea of a low-key Christmas. I was quite surprised to see all the decorations in stores and malls as early as late November. 
The first year was my first trip to Bali and to Yogyakarta, not very Christmasy. I did attend Christmas Mass at the Catholic Cathedral which is next to St. Louis school. It was not a service that filled me with holiday cheer. 1997 was very different. The stores and malls were once again filled with Christmas sights and lights. Emily and I had dinner at the Sheraton with the kids.
We had a tree at home, attended Christmas service. This service was in a Christian church where they tend to emulate a Baptist service, and they had a full on Christmas Concert. Christmas is important to our family and we try to spend it together, and sometimes we succeed in grouping the extended family for a BBQ of fish, crab, and lobster.
Occasionally we've even managed turkey. If we can find the ingredients Emily will make a few cheesecakes. My contribution is mashed potatoes.

Hi Priscilla,

                     I've heard about the holiday,but will never experience
as am not interested in staying any longer in this country.
I have regret to have come to this country.Will you give me you
phone number to call and share my experience with you.
      Thanks

The churches really go for it at Christmas. but that's only about 10% of the population max, probably less.
The malls are trimmed up and do the festive music thing but business is business so thst's to be expected and the kids like it.
Many schools don't have a Christmas holiday as such, but they are off on a new year holiday that starts around 23 Dec.