'Onde-onde' tradition lives on in Indonesia

'Onde-onde' tradition lives on in Indonesia

Tony Ryanto, Contributor, Jakarta

For the majority of today's Chinese-Indonesians, the philosophical meaning of Tang Cheh or Dongzhi probably eludes them. The two words refer to a festival that falls on Dec. 22 -- which also happens to be the National Women's Day.

On that day, family members, young and old, receive glutinous rice flour balls, locally known as onde-onde in accordance with one's age.

For example, if you are 25, you are entitled to two big onde and five small ones. The balls, made of glutinous rice flour, usually come in three colors -- white, red and green.

The snacks are usually served warm in a small amount of syrup. A friend told me that he feels alarmed every Dec. 22 because it means he is getting older and older.

In contrast, a child is happy because he is getting older and will therefore be given more freedom.

Often, children long to be adults like the Tom Hanks character in Big, while adults want to be children all over again.

Back to Dongzhi. Few people know that it is the second most important festival after the Chinese New Year or Lunar New Year. It is called the "Lunar" New Year as it refers to the full moon, in the fifteenth of each month, on lunar calendar.

The celebration is closely associated with yin and yang, which signifies perfect balance and harmony in life. Yin is passive, negative and feminine, whereas yang is active, positive and masculine.

Yin and yang qualities are not connected in any way with men and women but with the feminine and masculine qualities of the universe.

One can safely say that yin is the source of darkness and cold and that yang is the origin of light and heat.

Dec. 22 marks the longest night of the year. It is when sunshine is at its weakest and daytime at its shortest. The yin qualities are at their strongest and the coming of winter is celebrated by farmers and fishermen who gather their harvest and catch in preparation for winter.

Understandingly, Dongzhi is a time for thanksgiving attended by the entire family. It is a time when they put on new clothes, visit families, share gifts, and celebrate until the morning comes. It also signifies optimism.

Families, who still celebrate the day, usually serve tangyuan, the most important menu for the Dec. 22 festivities.

Tangyuan is the sweet soup of glutinous rice balls. As Chinese syllables are generally homophonic, tangyuan is rhymed with Tuanyuan, which means family reunion. Yuan is also closely linked to Yuanman, which means complete.

Like the Lunar New Year, Dongzhi also calls for a complete family reunion.

Nowadays, however, Chinese-Indonesians only provide the sticky rice balls for their ancestors. Some still continue to paste two or three balls on the doors of their houses, most probably it has something to do with asking for ancestors' blessings and for prosperity.

The celebration of Dongzhi or the winter solstice (when the sun is at its lowest point) has been conducted since the Han Dynasty (206 B.C. - 220 A.D.). On that day, officers at the royal court would go on vacation. That's why there's a Chinese phrase that says "winter vacation is greater than the new year."

There's an interesting legend attached to the winter solstice. A carpenter named Mo Dou lived in a place where the soil was extremely fertile, so the farmers did not have to do much work.

Instead of going to the fields, they would go to Mo Dou's place to chat.

Mo didn't like the farmers idling away their time chatting because it made them lazy while he himself couldn't concentrate and subsequently couldn't do a lot of work.

So he gave a bag of magic sawdust to one of his pupils, telling him to scatter a little onto the fields. In that way weeds would grow and the farmers would have to work or their crops would be affected.

But the pupil was as lazy as the farmers. He showered the whole bag of sawdust over the fields. The farmers were unable to get rid of the weeds and there were no crops at all.

Mo was very angry and turned his pupil into a cow. As a cow the pupil was no more diligent. Each time he did a little bit of work he demanded a reward in the form of glutinous rice balls.

The Buddha was not happy with the cow. So a nail was driven into its jaw, so it could no longer complain. From that time on, people regarded the winter solstice as the cow's birthday, thanking the animal for its year-long toil and feeding it sticky rice balls.

In Hong Kong, a lot of shops and offices close earlier on Dec. 22, giving employees a chance to gather with their families to celebrate the festival. No wonder the streets are quiet this day.

But if you want to take part in the festival you can go to a Chinese restaurant which is not yet closed and place an order for a bowl of glutinous rice balls.

In the early 1950s Dongzhi was still more keenly felt in Indonesia. A number of schools were closed on that day and the children had fun eating onde-onde but were not aware what Tang Cheh was and what it signified.