The Christmas songs, Santa Clause parades, fireworks and
baking cakes have stopped, but I have yet to tell you about my experience of
the holidays in Jayapura, Papua. The
anticipation of Christmas began with English Christmas songs playing in
stores. Starting at the end of November
children and youth set off firecrackers and use this homemade tube-like
contraption that sounds like a bomb. At
first these sounds were very confusing because it sounds like a war and it’s
easy to be startled by a bang when driving a motor scooter. However, the noise did not reach its height
until New Years Eve, which I will tell you more about in a moment.
Leading up to Christmas churches and neighbourhoods have
special services on weekdays. I went to
several Christmas services before the big day.
Then my church has a service on the 24th, 25th, 26th,
31st, 1st not counting the regular Sunday service. I can’t understand most of what is said at
church, but I enjoyed how each person got a candle and we sang familiar
Christmas songs in Indonesian.
Starting in December and every day until Christmas there is
a parade that goes around my city. Santa
Claus, several princesses, Winnie the Pooh and Sentrapids sit in the back of a
truck leading about 20 festive motorcyclists honking their horns. Sentrapids are Dutch fictional characters,
people coated in black paint that accompany Santa Claus and scare
children. The parade was cool to see the
first day, but then it annoyed me because it slows down traffic. Then one day I was invited by my two host
sisters to join it. I figured it was
time to join the festivities rather than criticizing their inefficiency. We jumped on our motor scooters and patiently
followed Santa Claus. We stopped at
various houses and Santa Claus gave children a gift while the Sentrapids chased
the children. This picture is of my
little host brother receiving a gift and crying because his siblings terrify
him with stories of the sentrapid.
The tradition I enjoyed the most about the holidays was that
neighbours/friends/family visit each other.
Every household sets out jars of cookies, salty snacks and bottles of
pop. Some of my neighbours are Muslim
and I don’t know many of them so I was really excited that they came over. I baked M&M oatmeal cookies and they were
a significant point of discussion – everyone called them the Canadian cookie.
(This is my street with my pink house on the far left)
On New Years Eve we went to church and after the service
they handed out papers with liturgy so that each family separately can do
another service in their homes later that night. So at 11 pm my family sat down
and sang/read/prayed again. The fun
began when we met my extended family just before 12 am. The neighbourhood was incredibly loud as
every person in Jayapura was setting off fireworks! I sat outside with my aunts admiring the
fireworks, breathing in the smoke, and looking with concern at the children
setting off firecrackers.
(My host family and I on Christmas Eve, but my 2 sisters missing)
When people ask me how my holidays were, I say interesting. I was surprised by how the central activity
of Christmas was attending church services day after day. The chaos of explosions and smoke during New
Years Eve was also a shock, but I was happy for a change from sitting in
church. I missed my family, community
and traditions back in Canada, but something that helped me enjoy the moment
was remembering that this was my first and probably last experience of
Christmas in Papua.
(A beautiful view of the ocean 10 minute drive from my house)
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