The spirit of 'Sungkeman'

Sat, 10/11/2008 11:24 AM | Opinion

In our paradigm, Javanese people have a nice attitude. They are so polite and humble. This can be the general ethic of Indonesian people because majority people in Indonesia live on Java island. This is our topic. The traditions of Idul Fitri like sungkeman can explain how the Javanese people give a honor to their parents, family and their relatives, moreover for other people.

There are at least three things that we can see in sungkeman tradition. It can be our model that we can elaborate for our life. The first is, Javanese people will kiss the back of their parents's hands. It can be interpreted as how sons and daughters give their affection sincerely. The second is, they visit their relatives to renew a relationship. It is so nice to empower their sense of belonging about solidarity and responsibility.

And the last, but not the least, we can get the priceless lesson. In this case, every person who meets the others will give mutual forgiveness. This tradition is almost loss in our daily activities and we only do this in Idul Fitri moment.

But when is our nice attitude reflected in our daily life? Where is our sense of forgiveness, solidarity and friendship? These questions are not answered with our lips, but with our attitude.

AHMAD BARLIANTA Jakarta

Comments (0) | Post comment

A | A | A |