Merry Christmas and Happy Idul Fitri

Merry Christmas and Happy Idul Fitri

By Aida Greenbury

JAKARTA (JP): Anna looked up at the greasy clock on the
kitchen wall. It was already three o'clock in the afternoon. It
was a bit hard to see the numbers behind the grayish layers of
smoke and fat covering the clock's glass surface. She promised to
get up there and clean it up, when the fasting month was over.
Right now, with what little energy remained, she was going to
prepare the fast-breaking dinner. When you are dehydrated,
carrying nothing in your stomach for the past nine hours, kitchen
work can be tough, easily comparable to the construction workers
who throughout this month move bricks without their familiar
cigarettes in their mouths.

Anna and her family had been observing the fast for almost a
month -- no drinking, no eating, superbly controlled emotions and
no sex from dawn until being among the sacrifices endured during
this special month. The Ramadhan month was almost over. The
following day, the family was going to witness the sighting of
the crescent Shawwal moon, which symbolizes the end of the holy
month. Then the new start begins. After 30 days of non-stop self-
purification, the Muslims are reborn -- humble, clean and
sinless. Idul Fitri, postfasting holiday, means a return to
pureness.

Anna opened the fridge. There was a whole chicken, a bunch of
palm-leaf wrapped rice cakes and palm-sugar soaked bananas for
dessert. The perfect sugar-fix diet for breaking the fast.
Chicken curry, rice cakes plus extra sweet condiments are the
typical local Ramadhan menu. They aim to instantly replace the
lost sugar and energy.

"Siti, Marni! Could you please help me prepare the food?" Anna
shouted -- calling her dutiful set of temporary maids (she has to
pay them double the salary she gave her usual domestic, which had
disappeared a week prior to Lebaran). One of the privileges of
being both opulent and fasting is that she can have other people
do her jobs, especially when her energy is running low.

An hour later, she came back to the kitchen only to see that
the place had turned into a messy shipwreck. Coconut milk
splattered on the walls, a troop of ants marching across the
window sills, ready to attack chips of brown sugar on the floor;
typical domestic chaos.

Anna took a deep breath. "I'm fasting, I can't contemplate
anger," she whispered to herself. Cleaning the mess in silence --
under the scrutiny of the maids, who had the classic "what did we
do wrong?" look on their faces -- Anna felt incredibly relieved
that Tuesday was the last day of Ramadhan. On the first day of
Idul Fitri, she was going to go to the great mosque with her
family early in the morning to pray, followed by visiting her
relatives, who she only sees once a year, to ask forgiveness
while being entertained with mountains of snacks and sweet,
bright red and watered-down syrup. She has been missing that for
awhile.

Christmas

Imagine that same night at a different house, approximately a
hundred meters away from Anna's. Here is a completely different
story. Julie, an Australian woman who has resided in Jakarta for
six months, sits down at one end of her dining table. Her husband
sits at the other end. Between the two their four children sit
restlessly, trying so hard to finish the rest of their plum
pudding and searching for the little silver coin hidden in each.
Their eyes continuously go to the corner of their living room --
where a pile of Christmas presents sits sweetly under the canopy
of a lush, decorated plastic green pine tree.

Julie smiles at them. She thinks back, relieved that
everything has gone smoothly, not as bad as she had thought it
would be. All the Christmas cards were mailed early --
considering it takes two weeks longer for them to arrive when you
send them from Jakarta.

The holiday shopping in Jakarta was great. After visiting all
of the Christmas bazaars in the city, Julie had enough presents
for the next ten years -- including 15 glittery Santa hats.
Although it wasn't quite a white Christmas -- it had never been
in Sydney either -- it wasn't really much different than at home.
She is looking forward to Christmas Mass tomorrow morning,
although she only understands about 10 percent of what is said in
the church.

Anna and Julie are two different people with two different
beliefs from different backgrounds and cultures who happen to
live in the same neighborhood, both celebrating in their own
ways. And what do you know; Idul Fitri and Christmas are one day
apart in this extraordinary December 2000.

If we are lucky -- meaning both celebrations are smooth and
safe, without any politically driven riots or demonstrations --
then it's definitely going to be an unforgettable memory straight
from heaven. You might even have been lucky to see a lot of
Christmas trees decorated with bright green ribbon-plaited
ketupat in the shopping malls.

Let's just focus on our similarities instead of our
differences. Minal Aidzin Wal Faidzin and Merry Christmas.
Doesn't it sound nice?