For the past few weeks Muslims in Indonesia have been fasting for Ramadan. I thought this would be a good opportunity to talk about Islam in Indonesia and my experience living in the largest Muslim country in the world. The following information is based off my own knowledge of Islam, which I learned in College, supplemented with information from Wikipedia and other sites which I will include links to at the bottom of the page.
First lets talk about Islam. Islam is a monotheistic religion (belief in one God) and an Abrahamic religion. That means it is a religion that traces its origins to Abraham, like Judaism and Christianity. In fact, just like how Christianity sees the Gospel as a continuation of the word of God set down in the Torah, Islam sees the Quran as a continuation of the word of God from what was set down in both the Gospel and the Torah; which they believe are not full representation of the word of God as they may have been misinterpreted or manipulated over time. The Quran is Islam’s holy book and it is considered to be the last revelation and the verbatim word of God taken down by Muhammad, his last prophet. They believe the purpose of human life is to worship God and submit to his will.
There are five Pillars of Islam that are obligatory acts of faith for Muslims. They are:
- The Shahadah (the creed): There is no God but God and his messenger is Muhammad. This goes to the belief in Monotheism, which is very important in the Quran. It is important that Muslims believe in and worship God, and that nothing else is worshiped instead. This is one of the reasons that Muslims should not attempt to depict God or the Prophet. First, God is believed to be incomprehensible to humans and any attempt to comprehend God would not do God justice ad thus should not be attempted. There is also a worry that if God is depicted people will be drawn to worship that depiction as if it were God, which would be false and would be taking people’s worship away from God. Muslims also must be careful not to attach too much importance to other things that may be construed as taking worship away from God. For example, when Muslims are buried a very minimal tombstone is placed and one should try not to leave offerings or attach to much significance to it. The spirit is gone, there is nothing there but a decomposing body and by attaching meaning to it and bringing gifts to the dead you would be creating a monument and worshiping something other than God.
- Salat (prayer). In Islam, Muslims are expected to pray five times a day. The times of these prayers are dictated by the position of the sun. The first prayer occurs at dawn, when the first light is seen in the sky. The second occurs when the sun is directly overhead. The third when the length of one’s shadow is the same as the length of one’s body. The forth and fifth occur at sundown and when the last light of day has left the sky. Now this means that the times change depending on ones location in the world and time of year. They have also been calculated years in advance (thanks to astronomy) so they are not affected by not being able to see the sun. Muslims do not have to pray exactly when these times occur but should pray between the time of the sun reaching the correct position and the next prayer time. There are exceptions for instance if one has to travel far they can combine the two prayers between midday and sunset. Before prayer one should make sure they are physically clean by washing their arms, legs, and face and wearing clean clothes. A full bath is required if one has gotten particularly dirty either physically or spiritually. The place and position of prayer is important, the place should also be clean (many Muslims have their own prayer mat to ensure this) and be facing Mecca. They are expected to do a series of prostrations and recitations to focus the mind on worshiping God. The number of prostrations and recitations varies on the time of day and if it is a holy day (Friday). Women should not pray while they are menstruating or after childbirth as blood is impure. The sick and elderly are giving leniency in the positions of the prostrations. In a mosque setting women should either pray behind men or separated by a screen. This is to ensure men’s minds stay pure and focused and women need not feel self-conscious during prayer.
- Zakat (alms giving). Muslims are obliged to give 2.5% of their capital assets to the poor as well as other people who may need it. Zakat tends to be performed during Ramadan.
- Sawm (fasting). Fasting is performed during the month of Ramadan in the Islamic calendar. The Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar therefore the month of Ramadan is moved forward every year in comparison to the solar calendar. During Ramadan people abstain from drinking, eating, smoking, and intercourse (among other things) from dawn until sunset. This is a time for spiritual and physical cleansing; to bring people nearer to God, atone for past sins, and think of the needy. Certain groups do not need to fast as it would constitute an undue burden. These are young children, the sick and elderly, pregnant women, menstruating women, and travelers. If one misses a day of fasting for whatever reason they are encouraged to make it up at another time.
- Hajj (pilgrimage). Once in every Muslims life, if they are financially and physically able, they are expected to go to Mecca during the Islamic month of Hajj. While there they do a series of ritual activities such as sleeping in the dessert in Mina, following the steps of Abraham, walking around the Kaaba in Mecca (a place believed to be set down in worship by Abraham) seven times, and walking between two mountains where Abraham’s wife was believed to have walked seven times. During the hajj month there are 5 days allotted for the hajj. Due to the large numbers of Muslims in the world and the short time frame for the hajj, the pilgrim needs to be book many years in advanced. Muslims also have the opportunity to go during non-hajj times, and are called umrah, but are still expected to do the real hajj if they are able.
How does Islam manifest itself in Indonesia then? Let me go over a brief history of Islam in Indonesia.
Islam first came to Indonesia in three phases starting in 600 C.E. lasting until modern times. Before this the Indonesia archipelago was mostly Hindu and Buddhist dating back to approximately 200 B.C.E (Ahmed). Islam arrived via pre-established trade routes from Yemen and the Persian Gulf to Sumatra and later to Java. It then spread over the next few centuries, particularly the 1100-1500 centuries, throughout the region including the Malay peninsula, Philippines, and the Indonesian archipelago because of a general shift in Islam at the time to a more spiritual i.e. Sufism, less ritualized religion (Ahmed). For more information on the history of Islam in Indonesia I highly recommend the following article: http://historyofislam.com/contents/the-post-mongol-period/islam-in-indonesia/ It is very interesting and informative.
Currently Indonesia is the largest Muslim-majority country in the world with a population of 250 million, 87% of which is Muslim (cia.gov). The breakdowns of the other recognized religions are: Christians 7%, Catholics 2.5%, Hindu 1.7%, and other (includes Buddhists, Confucianism, and Baha’i) .9% (cia.gov). https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/id.html
The following information I received during a Peace Corps seminar on Islam in Indonesia. Islam in Indonesia is sometimes expressed differently then it is elsewhere because of the influence of preexisting traditions. The Muslims who practice this form are Traditionalists. In the more rural parts in particular evidence of this can be seen in the worship sacred ancestral spirits (a tree or village for instance) by reading the Quran and having prayer groups on the day of the celebration (remnants of Animism, Hinduism, and Buddhism). This convergence of traditions can also be seen in the practice of visiting gravesites and lighting incents for the departed (Buddhist and Hindu). For more information on this please research kebatinan: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kebatinan
In the cities there has been a movement to go back to practicing a more Arabisized version of Islam that more closely follows the Quran and its teachings. The people who practice this version are Modernists. They are generally stricter in dress regulations and practice and want to remove any influence of non-Muslim religions from the modern day practice of Islam in Indonesia.
For more information on Islam in Indonesia please read (gets more interesting and relevant towards the middle): http://www.alu.army.mil/ALU_INTERNAT/CountryNotes/PACOM/INDONESIA%20CUSTOMS.pdf
Let me say that Indonesians are an incredibly friendly and accepting people. As I mentioned before there are seven recognized religions in Indonesia and, even though the majority of people are Muslims, one can be any of these seven religions and be completely accepted by the community around them without fear of prosecution, exclusion, or conversion. The only problem arises if you happen to atheist, agnostic, or Jewish (Judaism here is directly correlated with Israel and not seen as an ethnic group. Given Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, Jews are disliked and Peace Corps recommends we do not tell people we are Jewish).
Peace Corps recommends to us volunteers that we choose one of the seven religions to tell people we belong to if we do not already. The reason for this being that, while Indonesians are open and accepting, they are a highly religious and spiritual people so the thought of not believing in God creates confusion and distrust. For Indonesians belief in religion is equated with morality so it doesn’t matter to which religion a person belongs, just that they have one. If someone doesn’t have a religion its hard for Indonesians to believe that that person has morals. That being said I have claimed Buddhism as it comes closest to my beliefs, I also have the benefit of studying religion in college so can readily answer questions about my religion, which can sometimes happen.
Ok so how has all this related to my experience of Ramadan and living in Indonesia for the last 5 months?
Ramadan started 30 days ago and has now come to an end. As I mentioned before, Ramadan is the fasting month and the holiest month in the Islamic calendar. It is a time of cleansing, both bodily and spiritually, and reconnecting to one’s faith. This was my 5th time fasting for Ramadan but my first time doing it with a Muslim community. I have done it in the past in countries with large Muslim populations like India or with Muslim friends but I have never done it surrounded by a Muslim community and participating in that community’s festivities.
Surprisingly though, despite the fact that I am surrounded by a community, this year I was less dedicated to the fast than in years past. I’m not sure why. Maybe because in the past I’ve felt that fasting set me apart from everyone else and gave me distinction, made me unique; maybe because I’ve gotten less spiritual over the years; maybe because the novelty has worn off. Whatever the reason I’ve noticed that my main reason for fasting this year has been to spite my family (whom I love) and prove that I can (though to be fair that is sometimes part of my reason in the States as well).
Here in Indonesia guests are very important, especially when it comes to keeping them fed. This means that my family was worried about me being hungry and uncomfortable while I fasted. My bapak has also mentioned that he would be embarrassed if I lost any weight while staying at his house.
Every morning I would get woken up at about 3:30am for Saur, in order to eat before the fast. Now I am lucky in the fact that, unlike most volunteers, I do not have a roving marching band made up of children who’s sole purpose during Ramadan is to wake everyone up for Saur starting around 2am and lasting until 3:30am. They take their job very seriously I have been told. We then sit down to eat.
During Saur the whole family eats together. Before Ramadan started I barely saw any of my family members eat. Or have any other bodily functions for that matter (its still rare (they’re probably not aliens)). So Ramadan afforded me an interesting opportunity to find out how and what Indonesians eat. We would all gather and put the food on the floor. There was always nasi (rice) and sambal (tomato, chili, onion, garlic sautéed and crushed in a mortar and pestle, similar to salsa). Most of the time I would get to choose how much rice I wanted to eat; though it was normally not as much as my family would have liked (not eating rice is not an option). Sometimes, though, I would come in to find my bowl pre-filled with rice, just to make sure I was eating enough. My family members would fill their bowls with two or so cups of rice then add on a piece of chicken, or a spoonful of veggies and a spoonful of sambal; and that was it. I preferred a higher veggie to rice ratio.
In Indonesian culture there is a belief that if you don’t eat enough rice you will be hungry later. Therefore if you don’t eat rice for a meal you it doesn’t count as having eaten. My family does not think I eat enough rice in order to be full so they try and convince me to eat more. They do this by pointing out and naming all the foods I didn’t choose in an effort to try and convince me to eat them. They would also point to and name foods I did choose to get me to eat more of them as well. This also applied to rice.
At 3:30 in the morning this would get frustrating. I would have even my simplest life choices, such as what I want to eat and if I have eaten enough, questioned incessantly. For example, my bapak would sit there and point at the tofu and say “tofu” over and over again throughout the meal. After a week or so of this it took all my self-restraint to not come back with some snappy, sarcastic reply such as “that’s correct, that is tofu” or “I know”. Even if I was inclined to eat tofu the fact that I was now being told to made me not want to eat it just on principle. I’ve always been rebellious, and not liked being told what to do, but Ramadan, especially, brings it out.
The same thing happened throughout the day when I was told to go rest because the fasting must be making me tired, or to just go ahead and eat because I must be too hungry to continue. That was what drove me to continue fasting this Ramadan- my family doubting that my will is stronger than that of a seven year old (the age where many Indonesians start fasting). If I am one thing it is strong and stubborn. As an American who is 24 years old and used to making her own decisions, it’s been difficult adjusting to such attentive family members. But I know they are just trying to help, and their attention comes out of love and concern for my well-being.
After Saur I would normally go back to bed. The fasting started around 4:15 and was marked by the first call to prayer of the day. After which there was either Quran reading or praying over the loud speaker for the next hour or so until sunrise. Luckily I had no problem sleeping through it.
Because of my dislike of religion in itself, and my rebellious nature, I initially found it difficult to see Islam so tightly bond to public life. Speeches in schools, government meetings, on the bus, teachers meetings or any forum are always begun with: “assalamu ‘alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh” and a similar response from the audience. School and government functions, teachers meetings, classes, social functions and events are usually started with a group prayer. Over the loud speakers at school we would have verses of the Quran read to us.
I used to have the same feeling of aversion in the United States when the “under God” part of the Pledge of Allegiance was said or any other officially sanctioned references to Christianity were mentioned. The reason is not my dislike of Christianity (though that was probably part of it) but the exclusion and denial of other people’s faiths or lack there of. I feel it difficult for a Christian or Hindu student here to have to constantly hear prayers form the Quran and other references to Islam while having their own faiths and beliefs omitted. But I think that people of other faiths who grow up in a society where this is the norm don’t think twice about their faiths being denied equal legitimacy. I have not had opportunities to witness events where another faith was predominant, but I suspect that it would be the same experience.
This is also just from my experience in Java, one of the islands with the highest percentage of Muslims in Indonesia. At SMA Selamat Pagi, a boarding school where we had some of our training during PST, they would have prayers read from five major faiths at their events since their student body was much more diverse than most in Java. It did and sometimes still does make me uncomfortable to have group prayer before teachers meetings but, thankfully, I am never asked or expected to participate.
After Saur, most of Ramadan is spent trying to pass the time until Maghreb, when the sun sets and we are allowed to eat and drink again. Just like Saur, the whole family eats together once again. The same encouragement and approbation of my food choices continues. After we eat we normally sit around and chat. My family members will pray either before they break the fast or right after, depending on how hungry they are. My parents and sister Nafis will normally grab some water and then pray. My little brother Fahrul, since he’s younger, will eat before he prays.
I have found myself contemplating the salats or five prayers people do daily a lot over Ramadan. It seems like people are praying all the time; especially in the afternoon and evening when you have three prayers in a 4-hour time span. Before you pray you have to wash up to make sure you are physically clean when you prostrate yourself before God. When you pray you do a serious of prostrations and prayers to focus the mind on and praise the greatness of God. I have to admire Muslims’ dedication and how closely intertwined one’s spiritual and every day lives are. Though, I can’t help but wondering if so much wrote prayer ends up becoming a mindless habit. It would seem like by doing it so often one could end up just going through the motions and not actually take the time to focus the mind on the task at hand. It’s hard to say but I have heard some people liken it to yoga and mediation; you go a serious of movements and focus the mind. I’m sure, like anything sometimes people just go through it to get it out of the way, sometimes they do it with intention.
In my house we have a prayer area where we keep the prayer mats, and proper clothes one uses while they pray. Both men and women should be properly covered before they pray. The men wear sarongs, long shirts, and square hats. The women wear a mukenah, which is a two-piece outfit. The top part covers the head all the way down to the waist in one piece of cloth, it makes the women kind of look like sheet ghosts; the second part is just a long skirt that goes down to cover the feet. Everything, but their faces, is covered. This is a very Indonesian garment. The Quran says a woman should cover her head, arms to the wrists, and legs to the ankle and everything else in between. The mukenah covers more than that, but it is an easy way for women to make sure they are fully covered before they pray. My ibu often just wears a towel under hers when she prays at home. She doesn’t have to worry about being indecent when she prays with a mukenah.
Around 7pm everyday, after Maghreb, there is the next call to prayer and during Ramadan the whole community gets together, either at the local musholla (small mosque) or mosque, to pray. This prayer is called the Taraweh and lasts about a half hour or so. There are many prostrations to be done. The Imam (spiritual leader) normally recites some prayers while they prostrate and after each round of prostrations the men/boys usually shout “amen!” After Taraweh people return home but some kids will stay and recite the Quran until 11:30pm.
I got to watch these recitations several times. There are normally three or four people there to recite and they take turns. I was very surprised to see how well they all could read Arabic. They recite the passages of the Quran fluently. When they recite it is more like singing as the passages are meant to be read poetically. I assumed that since they could all read the Quran fluently that meant that they were fluent in Arabic and understood what they are reading. This, I learned through one of my observations, is not the case. While they can read it fluently they don’t really know what they are reading. That is not to say that they have not read the Quran and do not know what is written within it. They read translations.
This is strange to me on several levels. First, the whole point of learning Arabic is because, as a Muslim, you are supposed to read the Quran in its original Arabic so you can get the unadulterated meaning. If you read it through a translation, inevitably some of the nuances of meaning are lost. Second, if you are going to take the time to learn how to read Arabic fluently why not make sure you know the meaning as well? All the way through High School Muslim children take both Arabic and religion classes. It seems to me like they should know more of the language than they do. From what I’ve gathered by my time here, Indonesian culture is very focused on appearances. It is more important to appear to know how to do something, like speak a language (including English), than to actually know how to speak it or understand it. An example of this: my school told me that they want me to teach all the kids an English song to sing for our flag ceremonies every Monday. They don’t have to know what the song means, we just want any visitors that come to be impressed that the students can sing in English. The same seems to be the case for Arabic.
During the first week of Ramadan I had a few days off from school. It was nice to allow my body to get used to fasting in the heat before having to go to school for part of the morning. Those first few days at school were a time for all the students’ parents to come and receive their children’s grades. They normally gathered the parents by grade level. I had to make the usual speeches where I introduced myself in Bahasa Indonesia and Bahasa Madura. I then sat through some of Ibu Is speeches about the school and myself. It was nice to meet all parents though.
We also unfortunately had four deaths that first week. Most of them were older people. One happened to be in my neighborhood so I got to see how death rituals work. Unfortunately I missed the funeral because for Muslims the dead must be buried within 24-hours. The body is normally washed and wrapped, head-to-toe, in a cloth that is then tied at the top and bottom (consequently in Indonesian culture there is a type of ghost that comes from a person who is buried with the shroud still tied). It is prayed over and then put in a coffin. From there the family carries it to the cemetery where, I believe, it is removed from the coffin and the ties at the head and feet are undone. Then, in the sect of Islam my community practices NU, they gather and make food and pray for the body for seven days. This is then repeated at day 100 and 1000.
For the 100 and 1000 day events there is usually a selamatan and they read the Quran for a while. I helped with some of the cooking one of the days. The women help cook the food during the day. Since it was during Ramadan they couldn’t eat or taste what they were eating so they just had to guess. Around Maghreb it is the men come and pray over the body and eat. In Islam the men bare the main responsibility of worship. The men would gather and pray and then they would eat the food each night for seven days.
Death does not seem to be to bid a deal here. People don’t seem upset when they talk about departed love ones. The only death this month that had people talking was that of a younger girl who was stuck by a car while riding a becak (human-powered bike rikshaw). Whenever I talk to people and they mention a dead relative they don’t get emotional or dwell on the thought of that person. They mention it matter-of-factly. My uncle casually mentioned to me the other day that he has four children. At first I though he was joking because he’s a funny guy so I asked who the fourth one was since I thought he only had three; he told me the third one had died before the last was born. In the U.S. this would be terribly awkward and I had no idea what to say, but he had already moved on and was talking about something else.
Update: This past week (today actually) there were two more deaths in my community. I got a chance to join some of the rituals. I didn’t join but got to watch the procession to the cemetery. Several people carried a covered coffin that also had an umbrella covering it. Later, once people had returned to their houses the women and I set off to the house of the departed. We carried with us gifts of rice. It seems that only women participate in this first ritual, though there were men in the house. The rice we carried over was uncooked and it was taken from us as soon as we got there. We went in and sat for a bit. I have to say I have never, in Indonesia, received so much affection. The daughter or daughter-in-law of the deceased gave me several kisses on the cheek. They were so happy to have me there. There wasn’t much evidence that people had been crying, and besides the excess amount of affection I was shown I would not have been able to tell they were in mourning. As we got up to leave and say our goodbyes the widow of the deceased, a tiny, old woman gave me a huge, drawn-out hug. I was touched; Indonesians are not huggers or kissers (I also got one more big kiss from the daughter). As we left we picked up the pans we had used to carry the rice over, now emptied and sitting in a pile.
In all the religious/community events gifts of food are given to the guests to take home. Usually this package includes cooked, rice, a cooked meal and many cakes. There are many events going on in the community so at least once a week we get one of these food packets. I honestly don’t know what becomes of the food. I never end up eating it so I assume it’s snacked on or just thrown out.
That first weekend of Ramadan my friend Monique wanted to know if I wanted to join her in Surabaya. We get two nights away from community during our first three months at site ad I hadn’t yet used the ones for June yet so I happily consented. She jumped on my bus as it passed Probolinggo to go to Surabaya. When we got there we headed straight for the PC Office. We met up with the staff and talk. They were all excited to hear hour our first few weeks had gone. We also took the opportunity to ask them where we could find certain restaurants and attractions, which all happened to be very close to the lounge. We also decided to raid the Volunteer Lounge. The ID7s had just had their COS (close of service) so they had left everything that they couldn’t or didn’t want to take with them in the lounge. That meant a lot of clothes!
After we finished raiding the lounge we headed out to dinner at an Italian Restaurant. It was fantastic! By looking at the menu alone I could tell they were the real deal. There was Prosciutto e Melone, Caprese, Bolognese! I was shocked! Many Italian restaurants in the US don’t have such authentic dishes. Afterward we found a cheap hotel and headed out to find the where the Salsa dancing was. We arrived at a small restaurant with a patio in front where the dancing was taking place. It was great hearing Latin songs and getting to dance a bit. It made me miss Latin America and Latinos a lot though. I miss how lively and intimate they tend to be. I think there were some Latinos there, but I’m not sure, I didn’t get to talk with many people. The number of people dancing was pretty small. Maybe eight couples tops, and they were all pretty good; they offer classes before the free dancing starts so most of the people there had taken many classes. Monique is also a professionally trained dancer so she was great and everyone asked her to dance. I unfortunately didn’t get asked to dance at all. I consider myself moderately good at Salsa and Bachata, no doubt most everyone else was better, but it was still hard not getting the opportunity to dance. Since Salsa dancing is a partner sport I couldn’t really dance on my own, though by the end I was so tired of not dancing that I just danced by myself in the corner. Kind of depressing but what can you do? I love to dance and I wasn’t going to let not having a partner stop me.
The next day I intended to fast as we explored Surabaya. Monique had been fasting to, besides obtaining from water and she decided she would join me in the full fast that day. We walked about an hour to a nearby mall and walked around. It was about 11am and the thought of having a whole day ahead of us with little to do but look at malls was daunting. We finally looked at each other and I said if she was thirsty or hungry she should go ahead and eat. She admitted that she had been thinking about it. I admitted that if she broke the fast I was planning on doing so as well. Well that was it; the rest of our day was set! We decided we would spend the whole day eating all the food we had been craving since we got to Indonesia. We started out light, a cookie, some tea, and a tart. Then moved on to several meals. We found a place with American food. She had some burritos and apple pie, I had a taco and Bolognese (this would be a theme for the day (I am Italian through and through). We went from there to another mall, where we got ice cream. We then went to eat dinner at another part of the mall. I got more spaghetti; she got a hamburger with egg, bacon, friend, chicken, and a patty. We split a pastry for dessert.
I can’t say I regret or feel ashamed of all the eating we did. It’s hard being deprived of your favorite foods day after day. We also walked a total of 5 hours or so just getting from restaurant to restaurant and mall to mall. The one time we decided to take an angkot was one of the most terrifying road experiences we’ve had yet. Shortly after getting in our angkot was side swiped by a work van. In Indonesia which ever is the biggest vehicle is at fault and has to pay. The work van knew this and tried to get away from us to avoid taking responsibility for any damages. Our angkot followed it as best it could speeding and swerving through traffic. Eventually they evaded us and Monique and I promptly disembarked.
I went home after such a food-filled weekend with little desire to continue fasting. The following week there was new student registration at the school. Here public schools are the better schools and private schools are the ones that the troubled kids get sent to because they wont be accepted at the public schools. Parents also choose the schools or better students are allowed to go to better schools. Whichever school you choose you have to pay to register your child as well as paying for uniforms. My school desperately wanted as many new students as possible because more students means more money for the school. They hoped my presence would help with that. They advertized me by hanging a huge banner with my picture on it in front of the school. They also wanted me helping out with registration. That involved just sitting there so everyone could see my face. I spent most of the time writing my blog. After a few days we had off for about a week.
During that week off I discovered my nenek (grandmother) works in the sawah (fields). I have wanted to learn more about agriculture while I’m here so I decided I would go and help in the sawah. It was one of the best decisions I’ve made.
I had seen the paddies before and seen my family members working in them and wanted to help now and then but I hadn’t gotten a chance. What spurred me to go was finding out my nenek also helped in the fields. I was sitting on my computer when there was a sudden crisis that brought the whole village out to near where I was sitting. Apparently an older lady was feeling dizzy and had to be brought to the hospital. Well word travels fast and all of a sudden everyone was coming in from the fields to see what was wrong. Among those people was my nenek.
Now I am totally in love with my nenek. She’s sassy, spunky, walks around in just her bra (I have never seen so much skin exposed on a woman here before), and is, in general, super awesome. Now when she’s walking around in her bra she still has a long skirt on and her head covered, which for me adds to the hilarity of the situation. She just does not care at all. When she decides to wear a shirt she often wears a t-shirt with the words “saksi (sexy)” on it. She’s basically the epitome of confidence and matriarchal power and I hope to be just like her when I’m 70.
So as soon as I saw that she went and worked in the fields every day I knew I had to join. Even though I’m Fasting I decided that I would go at least for an hour before it got too hot. Around 9:30 I tired to go out. My family was adamant I not go. They said I wasn’t allowed, I was fasting, it was hot, I would turn black, etc etc. At one point I went out to just see if I could see where they were and they came and brought me back. But I was determined so I went to look again and my uncle told me where I could find them and I set off.
As soon as they saw me they got excited. I went and joined the weeding. I really miss working with my hands and being close to the earth. It reminded me a lot of my time at EQR; weeding plants listening to people speak another language around me (in this case Madurese). It was very relaxing. I could smell the earth, feel the mud between my toes (I was barefoot), and listen to the soothing sounds of voices talking about nothing in particular. I hope to make this a somewhat regular thing. I hope to learn about the growth cycles and cultivation methods of various vegetables grown here.
I went to the fields again a few days ago. This time just with my kakek (grandfather). The last few days had been spent harvesting the rice. When the rice turns brown crews of workers come out to cut it. They pile it up in the field on top of some tarp so they can cover it later over the night. They cut about half so the seeds are still attached to the stalk. The following day the rice is taken and separated from the stalk. I don’t know how yet but I do see them tossing the rice in baskets. It is later laid out to dry in the sun for several days. Once the rice has been removed the fields are prepared for burning. The workers go in again and cut the rest of the stalk down to the ground and then burn the field as best they can.
The weekend following registration was Fourth of July. A few volunteers and I decided to go to Pasir Putih in Sidubondo. It was really nice spending time with other Americans and getting to let loose for a bit. I got to meet and hang out with some ID-8s and a few ID-9s I hadn’t spend much time with before. We went swimming in the beach, rented a house, and in general had a great time.
The week after I was back at school. I can’t really say what was going on. I came in the first day at 7:30 as I had been told to find not a single teacher there. So I camped out in the administrative office for over an hour waiting for them to show up. They next day I thought I would come later, 8:15, still no teachers. It went like that for the rest of the week so I just spent all my time in the administrative office using the free wifi. The last few days of that week we had student registration again. Apparently not enough students signed up during the first round so we opened it again to get more. The students also came to buy their uniforms for the school year.
One afternoon before I went home I helped the teachers fold the uniforms. Indonesians, like I stated previously are very concerned with appearance. SO the teachers were perfectionists. The uniforms were folded and placed into clear plastic bags with precision. Each had fabric for a pants and shirt, which the students would later get tailored. Several of the uniforms had different colored pant and shirt combo and the teachers wanted it with the pink shirt folded inside the brown pants. There were a few uniforms someone had done with the brown pants inside and those had to be redone. I have to admire how professional all the little fabric packets looked when we were done though.
The last day before break there was a gift-basket and rice delivery to the school. The rice was for zakat. Each bag was 2.5 pounds and would later be distributed to the poor. The gift baskets; which included cooking oil, syrup, cookies, sugar, and other food items; were for the teachers. I helped unload them and put them in a spare room. Ibu is later wanted the contents rearranged so that the weight was more evenly distributed. I declined to help because the way she wanted them arranged was more unwieldy then it had been before.
The following week there was no school as it was the last week of Ramadan had everyone was getting ready for Idul Fitri. In Indonesian, during Idul Fitri, it is the custom to return to your family home in order to visit all your relatives and ask for forgiveness (more on Idul Fitri later). During this last week I had the good fortune to have my period a few of those days. During Ramadan menstruating women are not allowed to fast and it is very common in Indonesian culture for everyone to be aware of others’ bodily habits.
Unlike in the United States where something like menstruation and bowel movements, even sickness, are considered private matters, here this is not the case. During the first few weeks of Ramadan I would hear women, and sometimes men, tell me that they, or so-and so, were not fasting because they were menstruating. It’s not seen as something to be embarrassed about at all. After I told my Ibu I wasn’t fasting because of my period it was only a matter of a few hours before the whole neighborhood knew. Guests would come over, complete strangers would ask me if it was true that I wasn’t fasting. Honestly, I think my ibu was relieved because she wasn’t aware of the other times I’ve menstruated since coming to site and probably thought I was sick. It was nice to be able to take a break from fasting for a few days. I hate to admit it but I got a kind of perverse pleasure out of not fasting while everyone else was fasting. Though they were all just as surprised when they found out my period had ended after just a few days and couldn’t stop talking about it. Many women here say theirs lasts as long as 10 days.
A note on dress norms for women: I know I touched on this in my last post and I’m sure will touch on it many tomes in the future, but I’m still confused and fascinated by this subject. Many times now I have seen women breastfeeding openly in public. When I see it I cant helped but be shocked. First of all, it surprises me because in the United States these days it is taboo for a woman to breastfeed in public and if she does she should be fully covered at all times. Secondly, I’m surprised because women here do not cover themselves or show any signs of embarrassment that they don’t. Its fascinating to see a women who is wearing a hijab and long gown have her breast poking out-an oasis of skin on an otherwise covered body.
It is hard for me to reconcile how a woman, who grows up in a culture where they are told from puberty but also before that they should feel embarrassed showing their skin or hair, can then pull out their breast without shame in a crowded mall or in front of strangers or even in front of their father and brother-in-law. I have seen more strangers’ breasts here then I ever have before. I think it’s great that breastfeeding is seen as a natural and normal thing. I see women here, who are generally relatively, covered (with the exception of their hair sometimes) squat, butt and all showing, in the river to poop right next to the main road. No one bats an eyelash or shows any signs of surprise or embarrassment when they notice these people openly defecating in plain site. I then have to reconcile nudity with the other extreme: acute modesty.
The other night I was sitting by the musholla with my female cousin when the Ustad (religious scholar) came out to play chess with his brother. I was surprised to look over and find my cousin had moved to the shadows. I asked her what was wrong and she said she felt embarrassed to have her head uncovered in front of the ustad. I was surprised because she rarely wears a head covering around the community (but always outside of it). So I asked her why she was embarrassed. She replied that she was just embarrassed, that it’s not polite to show your hair to men. Upon further probing she said that it was because hair is aurat which, when I looked it up, translates to genitalia. Well now I was even more confused; genitalia seems like an extreme word to describe hair. I asked her if it would be ok for her to walk around in front of me, or her family, or the community without pants. She said that it wouldn’t be; so I then asked her why, if her hair is considered genitalia, it was ok for her to walk around with it uncovered. Our conversation didn’t get much farther than that because we had to go home, but as you can see modesty is a confusing thing here.
On the one hand women seem less modest than in American with the breastfeeding, public defecation, and getting naked in front of strangers of the same sex; on the other there’s the extreme of being too embarrassed to have your hair be seen by a religious leader (who I happen to debate and converse with a lot and is a person who I don’t think would care about seeing a woman’s hair).
During Ramadan I got to experience a Tunangan. This is a celebration and giving thanks that takes place for a couple who wants to get married. It’s the family of one partner thanking the family of the other for allowing the two to be joined in marriage. The first one was the mans family coming to the house of the woman’s family. The brought a lot of gifts of food and necessities which wee put away in the house. They then went to sit and eat. After which there were some speeches and prayers. About a week later the woman’s family returned the Tunangan. I joined and we brought the gifts of food to the future husbands house. We sat and ate, listened to prayers and speeches again, and then the couple sat out front to receive gifts of money from everyone present.
During the last week of Ramadan, about three days before it was to end, my community had a selamatan. This is when everyone gets together and brings food (unlike a potluck its all the same dish) and either eats together or takes it home. This selamatan took place after Taraweh so everyone was already at the musholla (including myself). After the praying was done the ustad spoke for a while about Ramadan and being Muslim. I didn’t pay much attention to what he said but he made a lot of jokes apparently. I decided I would make some spaghetti to bring and share with everyone. After the lecture, we all ate. The spaghetti was a huge hit.
Afterward I sat and chatted with the bapaks (men) and the ustad for a while. We had some interesting discussions about religion and the United States. They were all very curious about Buddhism and my beliefs. It was very refreshing to have a discussion about religion without debating our individual beliefs or trying to convince each other to convert. That’s one of the things I love about being here. Even though everyone is very religious they respect the fact that I am of a different religion. While they express curiosity about my religion and my beliefs they never try and convert me. I can tell them my views and instead of challenging them or quoting the Quran to me they just nod and ask me more questions.
I didn’t expect when I came to Indonesia that I would be able to sit with a bunch of men and a religious leader discussing life but I am grateful that I am able to do so. Occasionally they will ask me why I don’t join Islam and I always respond that there are too many rules; they always find that response hilarious and repeat it to anyone who may not have heard it.
One of the lasts nights of Ramadan I was invited to Bu Is’ house. She was hosting a Dharma Wanita, a women’s group for wives of government workers. They get together on a monthly basis to discuss problems in the community, and perhaps to gossip. This one started before the fast was over. One woman, maybe a leader of the group, spent most of the time telling a story, which I assume, had some sort of important message in it. Afterward their husbands, who were in the next room, joined us. One of the men, a religious leader I assume, then lectured us for a few minutes on the duties of a good Muslim during Ramadan. His speech ended with the call to prayer. We all broke the fast with a small snack then everyone did solat together in the house. We then had a full meal. That night I stayed at Bu Is’ house and had Saur with her the next morning and was taken back home.
Ramadan finally came to an end and we celebrated with another selamtan. This time people just brought over baskets of food, that all had the same contents, and then took a basket home. These types of gatherings make little sense to me. People don’t spend time together or eat together. The food that is brought and taken home is exactly the same. There doesn’t seem to be any purpose in bringing the food besides the fact that it is tradition. People don’t enjoy each others company and they certainly don’t come for the food, since it’s the same food as what they already had.
I know this blog post is long enough already so I will try and explain my experience with Idul Fitri as quickly as possible. The day after Ramadan ends is Idul Fitri. This is a time to visit relatives and ask for forgiveness. The day starts out with people going to the mosque (I didn’t get to make it to the service). Afterward I joined my family to the cemetery. There they laid out petals and leaves on the graves of their loved ones and prayed over them for a bit. The graves are basically unmarked so one has to remember where their family members were laid to rest.
After visiting and praying over the graves we started to make our way to nearby relatives houses. The purpose of these visits is to ask for forgiveness for anything you might have done to them in the past and anything you might do to them in the future. We would stop in, greet everyone and sit and snack for a bit. There are several greetings in Indonesia. If you want to show someone older/more respected than you respect you saleem them (take their hand and touch it to your face while bowing). Other wise there are a variety of greetings. Shaking hands-where the right hand shakes and the left touches your own elbow; placing both your hands together and touching tips with someone doing the same, or just placing your hands together and bowing (this is normally for intersex greetings if the two parties don’t feel comfortable touching. All of these greetings are immediately followed by bringing your hands to your heart.
Now, as with everything, it’s hard form me to understand who gets saleemed and who doesn’t. I would have thought it was anyone older than you, but this is not the case. Certain people who are older don’t get seleemed by younger people. Some people who are younger get saleemed by people who are older. And everyone seems to know whether the get a saleem or not. There are no awkward head bumps of two people trying to saleem at the same time. I assume some of it has to do with status, like if they are a respected religious leader. But I can’t be sure.
We spent the next few days going from house to house and receiving visitors ourselves. The important thing is not that you see your relatives its that you visit them. So even when we have a relative come and visit us at our house we still try and go and return the visit later. But as with everything this is not always the case. The first night of Idul Fitri we went around and visited all the neighbors’ houses (which did not get returned). There was one house though, that of an uncle that we did and never did visit. Neither did they visit us. I assume this is because they are close blood relatives and we see them often so there’s no need to visit.
One thing I did notice during all the holiday events, which I hadn’t noticed before, was how often men and women were separated. Every house here had two waiting/living rooms. In reality its just one room but there are usually to sets of couches and chairs one after the other. The women, I noticed tend to go and sit at the interior set, while the men sit at the one closer to the door. This is by no means a rule, there were times when we were mixed or a woman would sit with the men and vice versa but more often then not the sexes were separated.
This past Saturday I went to a Halal bi halal at the house of my principal Bu Is. This event is for everyone to get together to ask each other for forgiveness. All the teachers and school staff and their families were invited. We arrived and the women were separated from the men again. We had some snacks while people made speeches, sang verses of the Quran, and made more prayers and speeches. Afterwards we all went around and asked for forgiveness and then we got to eat and head home.
I also got to have some fun over this Idul Fitri Holiday break. I had a fellow volunteer come and stay with me for a few days, I got to go to a different Pasir Putih beach- a much more beautiful one in Jember, and I got to spend time getting to know my family better. I had some lively debates about cigarettes, God, and evolution with the Ustad and his brother. They both speak English pretty well and we had a good time talking and discussing different ideas. There were no hard feelings and they respected me and my intelligence. Tomorrow school officially starts for me. I have two weeks of observation before I start co teaching with my Indonesian counterparts. I hope to do more specific blogs in the future about health, language, gender, and cultural norms. If you all have anything you’re particularly curious about please let me know and I’ll try to create a blog post about it! Love you all from Indonesia!
Nicole becoming Indonesia 
Such an amazing account of your life there, your thoughts and perspectives and information about Islam in Indonesia. I love it! You’re a great writer, Colie!
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