Celebration spirit:  The national flag colors Jakarta'€™s sky.

Red and white have colored the city'€™s skyline.

The festive air has been felt for weeks as Jakartans and everyone else across the archipelago prepare to celebrate the country'€™s 69th anniversary on Aug. 17.

Many corners of the city have been decked with red and white decorations '€” the colors of the national flag '€” and residents have placed decorative gapura wicker gates at the entryways to their respective neighborhoods.

Seasonal flag sellers have also contributed to make the city colorful, attractively displaying their merchandise to entice customers to their stalls or push carts located along roadsides and sidewalks, or in other public spaces.

For more than a decade, Jumari, of the West Java town of Cirebon, has been selling flags, decorative flags and other red and white accessories on Jl. Urip Sumoharjo in Jatinegara, East Jakarta.

Every year Jumari has sewed his own merchandise with help from his wife, children and other relatives in the months before August. He often brought along a sewing machine just in case he got a rush order.

His buyers included small-scale resellers, residents and government office staffers tasked to adorn their premises, as well ojek (motorcycle taxi) drivers who wished to make their stops livelier to fit in with the mood of the celebrations.

Places where the hard-fought independence has been celebrated in a summerish fun way was in kampung (villages), where low-income people mostly live.

There, houses have been embellished with accessories and flags have been fully hoisted two weeks before the actual commemoration day. In many places, residents have even set up committees to organize games and competitions to mark the day.

The common games include balap karung (sack races), cracker-eating contests and panjat pinang (greased-pole climbing) that are sometimes accompanied by serious badminton tournaments.

The lively celebratory atmosphere in many kampung is in stark contrast with what is seen in upper-class neighborhoods where red and white flags are mostly absent from the yards.

Text and photos by JP/P.J. Leo

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