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View all search resultsChinese Muslims navigate identities amid Lunar New Year, Ramadan overlap
Amid the rare overlap of Lunar New Year and Ramadan, Chinese Muslims in Indonesia are finding ways to honor both celebrations, respecting family customs and Islamic practices at the same time.
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A person uses a flyboard as they perform a lion dance on Feb. 14 at Senayan Park shopping mall, ahead of the Chinese Lunar New Year, which will welcome the Year of the Horse, in Jakarta. (Reuters/Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana )
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mong the pork and alcohol typically served during Lunar New Year celebrations, 24-year-old Aprillia Hamdani and her family had a separate table of chicken and beef to observe their Islamic dietary restrictions at a family gathering in Makassar, South Sulawesi.
“We always have dinner together before the Lunar New Year itself,” she told The Jakarta Post over the phone on Monday. “But since we don’t eat pork or drink alcohol, my father’s extended family understands and they respect that.”
Aprillia is part of a small but visible group of Chinese Muslims in Indonesia navigating overlapping celebrations this year, observing the Lunar New Year on Tuesday while also preparing for the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan later in the week.
The last time such a rare overlap occurred was in the late 1990s, when the Lunar New Year fell in the middle of Ramadan.
While official data remains limited, a 2018 study published in Studia Islamika estimated around 80,000 Chinese Muslims in Indonesia’s population of over 280 million, making them a Muslim minority within the ethnic Chinese minority of about 10 million to 11 million.
Read also: Free ‘mudik’ kicks off as Indonesia braces for massive population movement
Despite differences in faith, Aprillia described the “joyful” connection with her extended family, noting how her relatives accepted her practices.
