Subdued 'Cap Go Meh' parades in Jakarta, Bekasi and Bogor
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
Thousands of people thronged Jl. Gajah Mada and Jl. Hayam Wuruk on Wednesday to watch the Cap Go Meh parade marking the first full moon of the month and the end of the 15-day Chinese New Year festivities.
However, compared to previous years, Wednesday's celebrations were rather subdued, a situation organizers attributed to the tsunami that killed over 170,000 people in Aceh and North Sumatra last Dec. 26.
The Dharma Jaya Toasebio Temple in Glodok, West Jakarta, hastily organized a two-kilometer parade, less than half the distance of last year's five-kilometer spectacle.
"This year we kept it simple out of respect for Aceh," said Husen Sjarifudin, who organized the event. "We are also focusing our donations towards tsunami survivors."
"Initially we weren't even planning to have a celebration," said Husen. "But people from all over kept asking us to do a parade of the toapekong."
Husen was referring to porcelain statues, symbolizing traditional Chinese gods and goddesses, that are paraded around to honor the deities.
Jl. Gajah Mada was closed for the parade, while Jl. Hayam Wuruh came to a standstill with many people stopping to watch the celebrations.
Ten traditional barongsai (lions) and two 15-meter dragons also accompanied the one-hour procession that started at 7 p.m.
Yati, who is Muslim and not of Chinese descent, came with her four children to watch the parade.
"My children have been asking all day about the parade," said Yati.
Until five years ago, the celebration of Cap Go Meh, which literally means the fifteenth day of the first month, had been banned. In 1967 Soeharto's New Order regime banned all Chinese celebrations. The ban was revoked 33 years later by former president Abdurrahman Wahid.
Hendrik, 40, said that the lifting of the ban felt "euphoric".
"It's like serving a life-sentence in prison, then suddenly being set free," said Hendrik, a devout Confucian who goes to the temple at least twice a month.
Meanwhile, in Bekasi, West Java, barongsai hit the streets to celebrate Cap Goh Meh after worshipers said a special prayer for victims and survivors of the tsunami. Thousands of people participated in a two-kilometer parade that started and ended at the 350-year-old Hok Lay Kiong Temple.
Tan Ling Ling, a businesswoman from Depok, said her family from Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang and Bekasi always came here to celebrate Cap Go Meh.
Organizing committee member Budi Santoso said Wednesday that Cap Go Meh was not celebrated until two years ago, when Chinese New Year was officially declared a national holiday.
The celebrations were also attended by Muslim groups, including a marching band from an Islamic boarding school, Betawi dancers Ambang Kromong from Jembatan Dua, and tanjidor, a Betawi traditional percussion group.
In Bogor, West Java, Cap Go Meh was also celebrated at the Dhanagun Temple, or Hok Tek Bio, located on Jl. Suryakencana, next to the Bogor Botanical Garden.