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‘Like before the pandemic’: Families welcome return of Christmas festivities
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Believers hold candles during a Christmas Mass at Immanuel Church in Jakarta on Dec. 24. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana)
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amilies celebrating Christmas have welcomed a return of classic holiday traditions, including church-going and family gatherings, while others have taken the opportunity to go on long-awaited vacations during the first year-end holiday season without strict public health rules since the pandemic began.
Carlos Dharmo, a 42-year-old private-sector employee from South Tangerang, Banten, had little choice but to attend Christmas services virtually in 2020 and 2021 because of pandemic-imposed limits on church attendance. He was excited to finally be able to attend this year’s Christmas Eve sermon in person at his church in North Jakarta.
“Since there was no [attendance] limit this year, I was excited to go since I knew it was going to be lively, like how it was before the pandemic,” he told The Jakarta Post on Sunday.
Carlos said some 2,000 people – just 20 percent shy of the church’s maximum capacity – attended Saturday’s service. They included many of Carlos’ friends, whom he had rarely seen in person since the pandemic started.
This year, the government has allowed churches to return to their full occupancy levels. In 2020 and 2021, the government limited Christmas service attendance to 50 percent of building capacity.
The government has decided to maintain level 1 public activity restrictions (PPKM), the lowest in the four-tiered system, over the holiday season nationwide until Jan. 9, amid low COVID-19 cases.
Read also: Govt to maintain relaxed COVID-19 curbs for holiday season
