Red-Letter
Day: Catholics and Confucians join in shared celebrations across Indonesia
In Malang, East Java, a model in Chinese costume celebrates Lunar New Year, which starts the Year of the Goat. (AFP Photo/Aman Rochman) |
Jakarta.
With the Chinese New Year coinciding with the second day of Lent, Chinese
Catholics and Confucians in several cities across Indonesia staged joint
ceremonies on Thursday in a show of religious tolerance.
Joint
prayer ceremonies were observed at the Hallowed Cross Catholic Church in
Cilincing, North Jakarta, where parishioners say the church has staged Chinese
New Year celebrations for the past 10 years.
“This
year’s celebration is much simpler because it coincides with our pre-Easter
rituals,” said Widiyoko, the church’s Chinese New Year chief organizer.
Celebrations
at the church, where 25 percent of its 6,000 members are ethnic Chinese, began
at 8 a.m. with a mass and ended with a lion dance performance.
The church
also gave alms to hundreds of impoverished locals, mainly Muslims.
“Events
like this add to the spirit of togetherness. It makes us appreciate one another
and not differentiate people based on their ethnicity or religion,” churchgoer
Florentina Ninie said.
Religious
Affairs Minister Lukman Hakim Saifuddin wished Indonesians a prosperous Chinese
New Year on Thursday, urging that celebrations be allowed to take place with
tolerance.
“I think
our society has already been shown to be tolerant, even though there are many
religious communities who do not accustom themselves to Imlek,” said Lukman,
referring to the Lunar New Year by its Indonesian name.
A similar
joint celebration was also observed at the Holy Family Catholic Church in
Cibinong, Bogor, according to Bogor’s bishop, Paskalis Bruno Syukur, who
presided over the mass.
The Jakarta
Police deployed more than 3,000 officers to boost security in the city ahead of
the festivities.
The
festivities at the start of the Lunar New Year are most commonly associated
with ethnic Chinese, but are also celebrated by other communities, including
those who identify as Korean (who call it Seollal) and Vietnamese (who speak of
Tet).
During the
32-year rule of the late strongman Suharto, the festivities for the start of
the Lunar New Year, as well as other expressions of Chinese cultural identity,
were banned.
In 2001,
then-president Abdurrahman Wahid, popularly known as Gus Dur, revoked the
discriminatory regulations and in 2002, then-president Megawati Soekarnoputri
declared Chinese New Year a national holiday; it was celebrated as such for the
first time in 2003.
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"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it), Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse), Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)
“. New Tolerance
Look for a softening of finger pointing and an awakening of new tolerance. There will remain many systems for different cultures, as traditions and history are important to sustaining the integrity of culture. So there are many in the Middle East who would follow the prophet and they will continue, but with an increase of awareness. It will be the increase of awareness of what the prophet really wanted all along - unity and tolerance. The angel in the cave instructed him to "unify the tribes and give them the God of Israel." You're going to start seeing a softening of intolerance and the beginning of a new way of being.
Eventually, this will create an acknowledgement that says, "You may not believe the way we believe, but we honor you and your God. We honor our prophet and we will love you according to his teachings. We don't have to agree in order to love." How would you like that? The earth is not going to turn into one belief system. It never will, for Humans don't do that. There must be variety, and there must be the beauty of cultural differences. But the systems will slowly update themselves with increased awareness of the truth of a new kind of balance. So that's the first thing. Watch for these changes, dear ones. ...."
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