Assalamu'alaikum!
Hello dude! What's up? Hope you all are doing fine.
Btw, do u feel excited now? Yes? Yeah, me too! Do you know why, because Ramadhan comes soon 😍 a month filled with blessing and grace from Allah. In that month, there is one day which same as 1000 months and it is more special 😍. No one hates Ramadhan I guess. People all over the world sure must feel so much excited to welcome the merciful month of Ramadhan. Even my virtual foreign friends have felt excited since the 1st day of Shaaban.
When we talk about Ramadhan, sure, there are unique things which make Ramadhan in our own country more beautiful than when we feel it in another country. Now, I'll let you know about the traditions and unique things of Ramadhan here.
1. Syrup advertisement (Marjan syrup) will appear on your TV a month before Ramadhan.
Yup, in Indonesia, it's easy to know if Ramadhan is coming soon. You just need to see a Marjan syrup advertisement on your TV 😂. When it has appeared already, it means we will meet that merciful month for 30 days. At least there are 3 episodes of this ad. (now is the 2nd episode). Not only on TV, but u also will meet them in all of the supermarkets. Btw it's not an endorsement 😜.
Figure 1 Family of Marjan syrup (i) melon flavour; (ii) coco pandan flavour; (iii) strawberry flavour; (iv) lychee flavour (source: https://lasallefood.com/product/index/28?slug=Marjan)
2. Broadcast Messages to Apologize
Essentially, we have to apologize when we have mistakes. But maybe there is a mistake that we made it blunder. That's why normally, you'll get lots of messages about apologies from your friends or your relation. And most of them just copy-paste those words from another friend and broadcast them to their other friends. That's good but I prefer to ask forgiveness directly because it seems more serious than just a text.
Figure 2 Example of the broadcast messages to apologize (source: officially stamped)
3. Balimau, a tradition to welcome Ramadhan in Minangkabau
As we know that Indonesia has lots of different cultures and each culture also has different traditions. Actually, this tradition doesn't exist in my current city but in my mother's hometown. It's Minangkabau tradition so just the community of West Sumatra does that before Ramadhan.Balimau in the terminology of the Minang people are bathing purify themselves (obligatory bath, shower junub) with lime (limau = lime). I'm sorry, I couldn't tell you clearly because I don't have much knowledge about it. But if you are interested to know that tradition, kindly you can read the post about balimau here --> http://minangkabau79.blogspot.co.id/2013/07/balimau-tradition-of-west-sumatra_2086.html.
4. Iftar Together (Bukber, buka bersama) +Reunion
If you are an activist or have lots of friends, u have to be wary of assault invitations for iftar together from your friends. Sometimes it will make you confuse because maybe there are clashing schedules and you don't know which event you should attend. Ramadan is often used as a moment to gather with family, friends, and relations. That's why it also seems like a reunion with your old friends. I like joining iftar together which my friends held. But on the other hand, I feel guilty because I couldn't do the Tarawih prayer in Mosque.
Figure 4 Iftar together with my JHS friends last year
5. Ngabuburit
Ngabuburit means spending time to wait for azan Maghrib. Most of the people do "ngabuburit" by going out to look for "ta'jil", like kolak, fruit ice (es buah), fried snack (gorengan), blewah ice (es blewah), or another kind of fresh drink and snack. You will find congestion everywhere in the time before adzan Maghrib. Besides that, there are people who spend their ngabuburit time with useful activities, like reading Qur'an and listening to lectures, and most of the girls will help their mom in the kitchen to prepare food for iftar.
Figure 5 Spend ngabuburit time looking for some "ta'jil" (source: goodnewsfromindonesia.id)
6. Fast pesantren (pesantren kilat)
According to the Oxford dictionary, a pesantren is a school for children and young people to study. Pesantren kilat is usually held by JHS (junior high school) and SHS (senior high school) for 2-3 days. In those days, the student will learn more about Islam, understand Qur'an, and many more. Girls and boys will be separated into different rooms. Hope that after joining fast pesantren, the faith and devotion of the student will increase.
Figure 6 Fast pesantren activity in one of senior high school in Indonesia (source: hai.grid.id)
7. Agenda book of Ramadan
Honestly, I dunno if it still exists or not in schools. When I was a student, the school gave that book to us and we had to complete it by the end of Ramadhan. The book contained what activities we did during Ramadhan, like how much Juz we read in one day, had you done your fasting, the summary about Islamic lectures when Tarawih prayer, did you pray Tarawih, and many more. The more you have done it, the higher score you get in the end.
Figure 7 Agenda book of Ramadhan (source: kompasiana.com)
8. Go shopping for new clothes for Eid
Eid is identic with new clothes, that's why in Ramadhan not a few people will go shopping. Even more, the price will start to rise if it is close to Eid. If you go to the shopping centre, u can see it will be full of moms in the last seven days of Ramadhan 😂. Unfortunately, not a few of them aren't fasting or break their fasting because of too much thirsty and tired ☹️.
I think this tradition is really crazy. Why? Because recently, I heard the news that there was a mom who fainted when she went shopping for Eid in "Tanah Abang Shopping Centre". In addition, this tradition seems obligatory for Indonesian though in fact is not.
Figure 8 Moms go shopping to buy some clothes and hijab (source: tergila.com)
9. Mudik
Mudik means going to home, or back to the hometown. There are a lot of people from the village and other cities who are looking for luck in Jakarta or another big city in Indonesia. Moreover, based on statistics, now the biggest ethnic group in Jakarta is Javanese, not Betawi (an ethnic group native to the city of Jakarta.). Other than the worker, there are a lot of college students from regions of Indonesia who study here. So, in the last 7 days of Ramadhan, they will leave the town where their work and go back to their own hometown. Most of them go home by train, bus, car, and motorcycle (though our government has forbidden travellers to ride when they wanna go back home). A month before Ramadhan, the company of Indonesia Train (PT. KAI) started to sell the ticket for mudik and no longer after that, the ticket sold out. How crazy, isn't it? 😂.
We will only see Jakarta free of jams during Eid because left by the people. Even you can sleep on the road because of almost no cars passing by 😂.
Figure 9 Mudik by the train (source: vebma.com)
Figure 10, 11 Road of Jakarta when Eid (source: hipwee.com)
That's 9 unique things about Ramadhan in my country. I think there are one more thing that same with another country. Hope you enjoy this article :D.
It's more interesting if you also tell me about your country's traditions and unique things during Ramadhan. Kindly, comment below :D
Btw if u also have other additions to unique things in Indonesia during Ramadhan, the comment box is always open for you ^^
Marhaban yaa Ramadhan 🌜🧕🏼
