Jakarta observes peaceful holidays

Tifa Asrianti , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta | Mon, 03/24/2008 11:45 AM | City

While some Jakartans peacefully celebrated Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (Thursday) and Easter Sunday, others hit recreational sites on the last day of the four-day break.

Around 1,000 Catholics visited the Cathedral on Jl. Katedral to attend the Easter Sunday service led by Cardinal Julius Darmaatmaja.

Police officers in Central Jakarta were deployed to ensure safety in the area.

Peaceful Easter celebrations were also observed at Betawi Church, the Catholic parish of Santo Servatius in Kampung Sawah, Bekasi, where children in traditional costume sang in a choir.

Celebrations for Prophet Muhammad's Birthday (Maulid) took place at the Jakarta Islamic Center in Kramat Tunggak, North Jakarta.

The celebrations were attended by Deputy Governor Prijanto and around 500 religious leaders. In his opening speech, Prijanto encouraged Jakartans to imitate the Prophet's personality traits, like patience.

Across from the Islamic Center, around 40 children recited prayers in a small shop selling Islamic clothes. The children were orphans invited by shop owner Chosyatun. The 52-year-old woman has been celebrating Maulid by giving alms to orphans for the last four years.

"I want to give something back to the children. I hope I can pass this tradition on to my children," Chosyatun told The Jakarta Post.

Chosyatun, who has lived in the area since 1973 when it was a red-light district, sells goods ranging from staple foods to electronic devices.

With the Islamic Center located in front of her shop, Chosyatun said her business was doing well.

"The neighborhood has also felt much better since the Islamic Center was built," the mother of 11 children said.

Thousands of Jakartans also went to Monas Park on Sunday to enjoy the weekend with family. Some flew kites, while others rode in delman (horse carriages), took the free shuttle ride or read books from the mobile library.

Similarly, Ragunan Zoo was packed with almost 100,000 visitors over the last four days.

The zoo's public relations officer, Marzuki, said the zoo had around 27,000 visitors on Maulid, around 25,000 on Good Friday and around 20,000 on Saturday.

"We estimate there were between 25,000 and 27,000 visitors today (Sunday)," Marzuki said, as quoted by Detik.com.

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |