Christmas is my favorite holiday of all time! I love the tradition my family used to do when I was a kid, I love the decorations, I love the Christmas songs, I love the weather, the cookies, hot chocolate, seasonal coffees, sales on stores and people seemed to be happier during this holiday season.
My Family's Tradition
I grew up in Manado, Indonesia, where the majority of its people are Christian, even though we are located in Indonesia, the largest Muslim population in the world. But, in Manado, people with different religions lives with peace, love and harmony.
Anyway, starting December fifth, the children are getting ready to meet a very special person on Christmas season: Santa Claus and Zwarte Piet (click on it to find out more about them). Zwarte Piet is from the Dutch language, they are Santa's helpers. Manado has a lot of Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish, British and Japanese's influences due to our history. Therefore, our names, languages, foods and cultures are influenced a lot by those countries. The Zwarte Piet was known as a black person, so in Manado, because our skin is not as dark, those who "played" the role as the Zwarte Piet must put on some body paint all over their bodies to make it very dark.
But, unlike Santa's helpers in America, in Manado, the Zwarte Piet are very scary and they make all the children afraid of them (you will not get your gifts if you are naughty lol). So, the parents usually enrolled their kids to some churches or organizations who did the annual Santa Claus season and write the list of what to tell their kids (their best and bad behavior). The goal is to make the children understand that they will get gifts when they do good and when they are bad, they will not get what they wanted. We must earned our gifts, so December is the month where all the kids are behaved and afraid to see the Zwarte Piet (over there, their role is to scared the kids so they will not be naughty for the whole year lol). The parents will choose to either invite Santa and the helpers to their house or to go to the place where it is being held (mall, church, school, etc).
I remember, I used to be afraid when I heard the Santa's car coming to my neighborhood and have this loud microphone to tell you which houses they will visit. I, personally, think that the idea to make the kids behaved well is good, but the way they presented it, is not healthy for the children. But, the presents are always a huge reward for us back then lol.
When I was older, my mom decided not to invite Santa anymore, instead she was being very creative created Santa into our own house. So, on the night before Santa "supposed" to come, my mom will tell me to go to sleep and when I woke up in the morning, she created the house has a grass trail and a little mud here and there on the floor (because Santa's reindeer were there lol) and I will followed the grass trail and found my gifts wrapped beautifully under the tree along with a note from "Santa". And yes people, because of that, I was a believer of Santa Claus when I was a kid, my mom is the best! :)
In Manado (at least when I grew up), people started to bake the cookies since early December, so the smell of fresh homemade cookies are everywhere. People are starting to decorate their houses with Christmas trees, lights, ornaments, fake snow lol, it really feels like North Pole, even though we live in a hot, sunny Asian country (usually on December, it rains a lot so it is not as hot as summer time).
You will find jars of cookies like that picture in almost every house in Manado. Let's eat!
On Christmas Eve, we usually gathered in a family member's house to pray and eat some Christmas foods, my mom and grandma made some special dishes only for Christmas, so we waited the whole year for those dishes LOL. Sometimes we went to church on Christmas eve, which is one of my favorite holy moment. It was just so beautiful, peaceful and amazing. At 12 A.M on Christmas Eve, we will pray together as a family to start the Christmas day. Then we will eat tons of foods and go around the city where they held a lot of fireworks, music, and yes you can visit ANY house started December 24th all the way to January 3rd. HA! Yes, people, my hometown is the real deal when it comes to Christmas! There really is NO other place like Manado when it comes to celebrate Christmas. Where else can you visit any house to eat, even stranger's house, from Christmas eve to January? Only in Manado!! ;)
These are just a glimpse of Christmas in Manado:
December 25th and 26th are church time! So, since AM to PM, you will see people are wearing beautiful dresses going to churches together and then after church, we will eat again, either at our own houses or visiting families and friends all over the city. We also like to visit graveyard, bring flowers to our families/friends who are in heaven by now. It was a sweet time, not that we worship dead people, it is more likely to remember their lives and gathered together with our family to remember the good ole time we had with those people who are no longer with us. Flowers always look nice on a graveyard anyway :)
Manadonese LOVES to cook, eat, party and very family oriented. We know everyone in the city and we love to invite everyone to have a party. It is in our culture to help each other, eat, dress up and party! So, we have a lot of varieties of foods, from Asian dishes to western dishes and of course local dishes. We have a lot of homemade cookies as well, from cheese, chocolates, caramel, peanut butter, strawberries-pineapple-any berry on earth, etc. In almost every house you will eat appetizers, main menu and desserts (cookies, puddings, salad, fruit cocktails, cakes, pies, etc).
We also love to dress up and look nice everyday, especially on Christmas time, so sometimes it could be stressful for those who do not have money to keep up with the latest trend. I was NOT one of those people, I thank God that my parents taught me to live well, loving God, others and not worry of having new things on Christmas day. My mom used to literally pushed me to go to stores and buy something new for myself, because I am one of those kid who do not wanna put burden on my parents shoulder to buy me new gifts, even though we are not poor. I am a believer of contentment and my mom always tell me that she is forever grateful to have me as a child..LOL..!
So, Christmas in Manado is all about JESUS, family, feast, friendship and celebration of love, faith and hope. So, what is your favorite holiday? What is your family's tradition? Tell me..tell me :)
Matthew 1:21
She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.
Matthew 1:23
“Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall call his name Immanuel” (which means, God with us).
My husband and I at Union Square, San Francisco, last Christmas Eve (2011).
Ho..Ho...Ho...
xoxo,
Lindsay
