Asia

To help us better understand what our sisters and brothers at our companion synod in Indonesia (HKBP) might be thinking about or doing during Advent, here is a summary of how they observe this season. For a brief description of the history of the HKBP, please scroll to the bottom of this section.

Advent/Christmas in Indonesia
Advent is not really observed within the church in Indonesia. But it is a time of preparation for many of the activities that will come at Christmas. The following represents some of the activities in the Batak region (north Sumatra) of Indonesia.
During the season, all Christians organize Christmas ceremonies in their own villages, not just for in the church but also on open stages. The resulting festivities often include a drama with Mary, Joseph and the Christ child (from Luke 2); Christmas songs; readings from the Bible in various languages; and finally enjoying Christmas cakes.

In the dramas, people design and create costumes based on their understanding of Jewish custom. The music is provided by guitars, organs or electronic organs, and cassette players.

The cakes are home-made or sometimes bought in stores. This is not some special cake, but a variety of Indonesian cakes are used.

In the church itself, there is a special Christmas program. Numerous church groups participate in this, including Sunday School children, youth, mothers, fathers, and church council members. Usually the program starts a week before Dec. 24. Every night during the whole week, programs are arranged and prepared according to each group's own design and model.

All this culminates in a party, with a meal in the church. Food served includes rice and pork (Sangsang).

After Christmas, every family prepares to welcome the New Year. Like the American tradition of gathering together with the whole family at Thanksgiving, the family gathers at the New Year in Indonesia. At midnight of the new year, churches ring their bells and all families wake, sit together, and have family devotions. After the devotions, those gathered greet one another, forgive one another, and parents bless all the children. Finally, everyone enjoys New Year's cake. There are special cakes for New Year's called Ketupat (with Beef), Lemang (with Beef); and Dodol. All these are made from sticky rice, coconut milk and sugar. Some would drink beer, soft drinks, coffee-milk, etc. The family New Year's ceremony sometimes ends at 5.00 am.

Christmas and New Year's are really joyful times for the family; it is a very sad thing for someone to be unable to be his/her family during Christmas and New Year.



We will be seeking to learn more about our companion synod in Indonesia over the next few months. To get started, here is a brief history of the church there:

Protestant Christian Batak Church
Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP)

HISTORY
The Huria Kristen Batak Protestan (HKBP, pronounced hah-kah-bay-pay) grew out of the efforts of the German Rhenish Missionary Society, which began work in Batak country in 1861. In 1930 the HKBP became the first major independent and self-governing church body in what was then the Dutch East Indies. The majority of the members are rural people, engaged in small farming and living in villages, but many of the members reside in cities.

Led by a resolute and clear-sighted missionary, Ludwig Ingwar Nommensen, "the Apostle to the Bataks" the missionaries pressed inland toward Lake Toba. They translated the Bible into Batak, and led whole villages and tribes to become Christian, instead of making individual conversions.