My Lunar New Year celebrations: Now it can be told

My Lunar New Year celebrations: Now it can be told

JAKARTA (JP): A car stopped in front of a house in the Kemang
area. Five people dressed in black got out and entered the house.
More cars came and more people in black entered the house.

Who were they? Witches? Members of a secret society? People
with a license to kill? No, none of these, for as soon as the
door was closed, they took off their black clothes and revealed
their colorful outfits, all with "a touch of Chinese" as the
invitation had ordered.

They had destroyed immediately these invitations, which had
come by facsimile, also on orders of the hosts, who had invited
them to come to "A Chinese New Year party" with as special guest:
Mr. Hans, Jakarta's most expert cook and gourmet.

The house was decorated like a Chinese teahouse with red
lanterns, wind chimes and other Chinese good-luck decorations. On
one of the tables was a basket, where we could put our ang-bao,
or red envelopes containing money, meant as donations for less
fortunate children, for Chinese New Year is, after all, a feast
for the younger generation.

Hans had prepared the most delicious meal, a very traditional
Chinese New Year meal, as the people from Jakarta used to enjoy.
He had made many dishes, with steamed fish as the closing dish.

Fish is a must for every New Year's dinner, because fish in
Chinese has the same sound as abundance. Peter had donated the
desert, bird's nest cooked with rock sugar, dried fruits and
lotus seeds.

Before the meal, we formed a circle and, holding hands, we
pledged that we would not tell anybody else about this secret
party and that we would repeat it again every year as long as New
Year's celebrations outside the home were banned.

After the meal, we paraded in front of a jury to decide the
most "Chinese" outfit. David, dressed like a movie star from a
kung-fu movie, won the prize for men, but the jury had
difficulties to decide the first prize for women: Vivian, who was
dressed like Susie Wong, or Tanya, who was dressed like the
Empress Dowager. The rest of the evening was spent dancing,
singing and drinking wine and then we wrapped ourselves up again
in our black garb to go home.

We celebrated every year as promised, until in 1996 Vivian
announced that she would not be in town, because Chinese New Year
coincided with Idul Fitri, the end of the fasting month for
Muslims.

"I am going to Hong Kong," she said. "My servants are all
going to their villages and I will have no domestic help for a
week or two. In Hong Kong I will not only enjoy daily service in
the hotel, but I will also be able to see the New Year procession
there."

Others also left for the same reason to different places, like
Singapore, Beijing and even San Francisco. But Tanya did not join
the party because she had to stay at home. "All my servants are
gone," she complained, "I can't leave the house and come back
after midnight because there is nobody to open the gate of my
house."

That went on for three years, and then in 1999 there were
mixed feelings about a celebration. Again there was an exodus of
people who wanted to celebrate elsewhere and also, there were
feelings of "who knows what will happen? Riots like those in May
1998 or maybe even worse?" Such were the rumors and since people
seemed to be living on rumors only in those days, again there was
no celebration.

It was in the year 2000 that Chinese New Year was allowed to
be celebrated again openly, following a Presidential decree. We
could watch the lion dance and the dragon dance usher in the Year
of the Dragon. It was then that we had our celebration again.
There was no need anymore to cover our clothing with a black
wrap, so we walked proudly in our outfits. For the first time
some women wore the kabaya encim, a tradition style of dress for
Chinese-Indonesian women and the men wore the traditional baju
koko. Not only was this style in fashion again, but it was also
an attempt by the women and men to show their identity. I must
admit that this style is very elegant indeed.

There was also no more need to repeat our vow, so that part of
the program was skipped. Firecrackers brightened up our evening,
but we had to talk and sing louder in order to be heard.

We did not stop at this celebration, everywhere in town the
Chinese celebrated their New Year and we saw the barongsay (lion
dance) in many, many hotels, shopping malls and Chinese temples.

We were sure that from then on, Chinese New Year would be
celebrated in the style it used to be in Indonesia.

But no, the warning signals came with Christmas Eve, bombs
were placed at several places near churches. Would the terrorists
strike again on Chinese New Year? Many people are scared again.
Flights to Singapore, Hong Kong and Bali are fully booked and so
are the hotels in those places for that week.

I can't blame them; I, too, would rather hear the sound of
firecrackers than the sound of bombs.

--Myra Sidharta