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