Who doesn’t love holidays? Almost every person on this planet loves this little thing called holiday. Why? Becasue during holiday, they can finally release some stress becasue of the work, school, or campus activities by doing anything they want like going on somewhere, playing with some friends, or just chilling at home with some nachos and movies.
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In the country like Europe, the most notable holidays are maybe the Christmas and also New Year’s Eve. But, because Indonesia is included as one country with the a lot of muslims, the people also having the Islamic Holidays. Beside the Islamic’s, there are also some religions that also have their own holidays, like Buddhism and Hinduism. With the religions holidys combined, the Indonesians can have a lot of holiday within a year. What are those famous holidays in Indonesia? See them below
1. Idul Fitri or Eid
This one is one holiday that every muslim in Indonesia waiting for. The Idul Fitri or Eid is the peak of Ramadhan month, which is also the end of that month. Day before the Eid, in the evening until the night, the people start to chanting takbir and then completed with this parade of fireworks. If the sky is clear enough, it is really beautiful.
Some days during Eid and after it are free days, usually used by people for coming at their hometown, or for taking holidays in the other areas like Yogyakarta or Bali. With the generosity filling the country, the delicacy of Opor Ayam and Kari, the Eid is one memorable holiday of all holidays in Indonesia.
2. Christmas
And then there’s Christmas. During this holy day of Christians, in some places like malls and restaurants decorated with the christmas ornaments. They are really beautiful especially in the malls, there will be the santa cart that is also completed with the deers there. Not only that, the decoration of gigantic christmas tree can not be missed too.
During christmas, the activities are just like normal. The churchs will filled up, and the road will be more crowded because usually there will be special christmas sale on every malls. This time is a great time for hunting stuff, because they can have more discounted price especially during christmas. All people in Indonesia are so happy during that day.
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3. Indepence Day 17 August
During every date of August 17th, the people of Indonesia celebrating the Independence Day. It’s important to celebrate it in order to respect the fallen heroes who bring Indonesia to the bright light of Independence. In every school or government organizations, there will be the ceremony that held right in front of the building or the school field.
The ceremony itself is also useful as a reminder, especially for the students of Indepence day of Indonesia. But the thing is, after the ceremony, the class in school wil be dismissed for a day. And surely, that is the good new for the students. But there’s a rule. Even though the Indepence day is located during Sunday, the students must come to the school for the ceremony.
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4. Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year is also being celebrated in Indonesia, because the numbers of Chinese in Indonesia are also so many. To respect them, Indonesia also make holiday for the Chinese New Year so the chinese people can have their ceremonies in the temple that located near them. Usually there will be some street vendors who always sell the red clothes during the day.
5. New Year’s Eve
Of course, who can not forget the New Year’s Eve. The day is like the top celebration for the whole year. Many people celebrate it, either on public places or just at their own house. With so many fireworks colouring the sky, the night of New Year’s Eve can not be missed. Not only Indonesian people, but also the people around the world celebrate it too.
6. Nyepi
There’s also the Hindu holiday, called Nyepi. Unlike the other holiday when usually people gathering around to celebrate it, this Nyepi is consist of quietness. Like its name, Nyepi is a day without any entertainment activity for all Hindu people. Because of that, during the Nyepi day in Bali, the services like malls and airport are closed for a day. People usually being in their own house, away for entertainment for a while, for self introspection.
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7. Waisak
And another holiday in Indonesia is Waisak. Waisak is the day for the Buddhists. They will celebrate this day with so many gracious, and prettyness that can be shown via their actions. First, they will go to the nearest temple and start praying in there, offering some flowers to Buddha statue. And durng some nights, the will light these beautiful lanterns, that will fly into the sky. Not only for the Buddhist, all the people also love the view of those beautiful lanterns.
8. Labor Day
The other holiday in Indonesia, which actually doesn’t have the special celebration is the Labor Day. During the labor day, the people in Indonesia just usually enjoy the free day with anything they want to do, like shopping, playing around with friends, etc. But the thing go different for workers. The workers, especially factory workers start doing demonstration in order to increase their wages. So that’s it, the labor day is the day of demonstration.
9. Eid al-Adha
Beside the Eid, there’s another Islamic day called Eid al-Adha. In this day, on calendar it will be marked as red, which is the colour for holiday. For the non muslim, usually they spend this holiday just like the weekend. Muslims in this Eid-al-Adha also doing the pray, and then start to do Qurban. After doing it, they will giving the meats to all neighbors, and to the people who need them the most. In that day, everybody is happy.
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10. Joint Holidays Before Idul Fitri
And then, days before the Eid happens, there will be the joins holidays, a little appreciation for the workers out there. During these days, they will spend the time efectively by visiting their hometown. It will be a good time visiting mom, dad, or relations who located so far away from us. With all the family, the atmosphere will be a lot better and better. And then it’s time to celebrate the Eid with your whole family. Usually, during this time, the traffic is so bad, because everyone also wants to do the same thing, coming home.
11. Joint Holidays After Idul Fitri
After the ending of Eid, there will some holidays after it, used by the people for going back to their original area from their hometown. It’s time to go back after spending some days with the family. As usual, the traffic condition during these times is so bad, because the people will start lining up using the same way to go for their own area. The holidays will only present for about two or three days, and within those times, the people should be ready at their home for the work tomorrow.
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12. Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday
Another Islamic day is the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad. During this holiday, many schools in Indonesia, especially junior high and elementary schools will instruct their student to bring foods and wear muslim wear. And then there will be exchange of foods done by the teachers. During this time, it’s actually the time for the kids, the children to have fun with their friends, eating different kinds of foods that provided by someone.
13. New Year’s Day
After the changing of year, the people also having one more holiday, at the start of the year, the New Year’s Day. The holiday only last for one day. And within one day, one should prepare for the new time tomorrow. People will have new goals and spirits.
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Aside from the 13 famous holidays in Indonesia that already mentioned above, here is another list that can provide to us that Indonesia has a lot of unique holidays because of the rich religions in this country. They are :
- Isra’ Mi’raj
- Good Friday
- Easter Sunday
- One Muharram, Islamic New Year
So that is the list of the famous holidays in Indonesia. Thanks to them, we Indonesians can have some holidays during a month. For the important days like Christmas and Eid, we can have more free days than other holidays.
But the thing is, because in Indonesia there are only two seasons, dry and wet season, we don’t have holidaus because of the season change like Summer Holidays. But, because of there are so many “red dates”, maybe we can have more holidays because of that.
