Celebrating Idul Fitri in Indonesia!

After a month of abstention from food, water, and sexy time between sunrise and sunset, followers of Islam gathered to celebrate one of their most important holidays, Idul Fitri. This year, our Indonesian teachers, invited all the English teaching assistants (yep all 44 of us) to their home to celebrate the holiday with them in Indonesian-fashion.

During Ramadan (the fasting month), most Indonesian Muslims wake up around 3 or 4 am to eat sahur (the pre-fasting meal)- the only meal and drink until sunset which occurs around 6 p.m. here. My Indonesian friend Elly explained that fasting is a part of her jihad or "struggle" to gain control over her emotions and draw closer to God. To get a better understanding of what she meant, I fasted on Thursday.

At 3:40 a.m.- before a ray of sunlight had touched the sky- I woke up to eat a large breakfast at the hotel buffet and drink water- lots of water. Throughout the morning I felt fine, but as soon as our guest speaker began lecturing on lesson-planning techniques, my eyes wandered wistfully to the espresso machine and plates of snacks piled in the corner of the classroom. Long story short, I survived and emerged with a renewed appreciation for the food that I have and respect for everyone that fasts throughout Ramadan.

Probably the hardest part of the day was when we discussed traditional foods eaten during Idul Fitri in our language class. I didn't realize until that then, how difficult it must have been for our teachers- Ibu Vita and her sister, Ibu Lilly (both Muslim)- to teach a group of Americans who constantly snacked and drank coffee, but they never once showed a trace of impatience or annoyance. In fact, at the end of the day, the two sisters invited all the ETAs to celebrate the end of Ramadan in their home!



On Friday, about 40 ETAs piled into ancots (little green buses), ojeks (motorcycle taxis) and taxis headed towards Ibu Lilly and Ibu Vita's house. Pretty soon, their house was full of buleh! (Indonesian slang for white people)






















To celebrate Idul Fitri, the sisters cooked a variety of traditional Indonesian foods for us including eggs boiled in a soy-sauce, pickled vegetables, and chicken curry. There was also a basket filled with passion-fruit, snake-fruit, and pears and of course, plenty of ketupat- rice steamed in a basket woven from young coconut leaves. When you unwrap the leaves, you use a knife to slice the densely packed rice. You can find ketupat sold in bushels at street stands all around the city.




After eating too much food, I accompanied Ibu Lilly and a few of the ETAs to visit the neighbors. An important component of Idul Fitri is forgiveness and rebuilding relationships with God, friends and family. Muslim families open their homes to guests and visit each other, greeting one another with the phrase "mohon maaf lahir dan batin" which means "forgive my physical and internal (wrongdoings)".

Ibu Lilly's neighbors welcomed us into their home and showered us with food and questions about what we thought about Indonesia and where we would be teaching. We also took lots of pictures. Fortunately, the neighbors were just as excited as we were to take pictures- they had never seen so many buleh in their home before. Selamat Idul Fitri!