For any religious or cultural celebration turned universal, there’s sure to be a streak of local hue.

While most Christians tend to commemorate the birth of Jesus on Dec. 25, they celebrate Christmas in more diverse ways than we can imagine.

Santa no longer only sports a vivid red attire, spreading joy along with us humming “Jingle Bells” in English, and Christmas dinner means a different menu at tables across the country.

If you’re bored with the Western-style Santa, try finding a local one in Central Java’s Magelang. One that knocks on doors and speaks in polite Javanese. One that has forgone his white-trimmed costume and fake white beard, opting for a traditional striped lurik (an Indigenous Javanese handwoven fabric) and a real beard instead.

Living in a tropical country, this Santa doesn’t ride a sleigh pulled by Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer, but pedals a rickshaw, followed by his elves also dressed in Javanese attire.

Meanwhile, Christmas Eve and Day masses take on a local feel in different churches.

In East Java’s Poh Sarang Church, the choir sings songs in Javanese along the pentatonic melody of a group of traditional musicians playing gamelan. Hours away from there, in the Maduranese-dominated Jember, the East Java Christian Church holds a service in Maduranese.

“We combine Bahasa Indonesia, Maduranese and Javanese in our church activities,” Sapto Wardoyo, the head of the church says. Not only that, this church also uses a special Maduranese Bible, which was translated in 1982 by Cicilia Jeanne d’Arc Hasaniah Waluyo.

In Bekasi’s Kampung Sawah, the congregation follows a service in Betawi and sings gospel songs in the same language. And guess what the local Christmas treat is? Yup, dodol. The sweet sticky cake made of glutinous rice replaces the Western style Christmas cakes or ginger bread.

Aside from church services, Santa and the Christmas tree, food has always been part of the celebration. And what’s on the dinner table depends on where you’re celebrating.

“Celebrating Christmas in Ambon, my hometown, means attending the midnight mass on the 24th and then spending time until dawn with my extended family in the house of my mother’s older sister,” says housewife Monica Tinangon who comes from a mixed Ambon and Manado background.

“We chat, we sing and we have a lot of catching up to do on Christmas Eve as most of us live in different cities. And for the families who came all the way from Jakarta, it’ll be the wrong time to be wanting to rekindle with papeda [traditional porridge made of sago],” she explains.

“On Christmas day, we want something extraordinary on the table. Pork in soy sauce, pork rica, basically pork becomes the symbol of our celebration. The savory treats are then topped with cakes and tarts, an influence from the Dutch culture,” Monica goes on.

“Usually, there’ll be two separate buffet tables, one covered with pork dishes and another with halal food like grilled fish for our Muslim guests.”

After the night’s feast and hours of chat, families will go for a second mass the next morning and visit friends and relatives for the rest of the day.

“For us, Christmas is that night we spend together. Back as a family, after months of being busy with our own lives. Gifts are not important, so long as we’re together.”

But celebrating the traditional Christmas in Jakarta where she resides requires a bit of adjustment.

“If we don’t get to go back to Ambon, we decide to go for a simpler celebration. I go to the morning mass with my husband and children and cook simple food just in case guests are coming. No pork, just the cakes and klapertaart [coconut tart] remain.”

Just like Monica, Ronny Poluan who originates from Tomohon, North Sulawesi, has had to tone down his Christmas celebrations since living miles away from his extended family.

“The traditional Christmas dinner in my hometown usually involves canine meat. It’s not only the highlight of the feast, it has a deeper philosophical meaning as dogs are considered our soul guardians,” Ronny explained.

Canine meat dishes or known locally as RW – a short for rintek wuuk or soft fur, a term referring to dogs – originate from Manado and Minahasa local customs. Other customs didn’t survive the Spanish and Dutch introduction of Christianity, he added.

“Unlike the Batak, frankly speaking, we’ve sort of lost parts of our customs. Thus, the way we celebrate Christmas is not that different from the general way.”

Slightly further to the south, in East Nusa Tenggara’s Atambua, Mateus Guides agrees that whatever is served on the plate, togetherness is the main ingredient of Christmas celebrations. A table with a simple meal and beverages becomes the centerpiece of the living room in his wooden-walled and dirt-floored home. No sparkly Christmas tree with piles of gifts underneath.

Despite the humble setting, his relatives come from different parts of the province to spend a day or more there. Uniquely, if others like Monica and Ronny have a list of special dishes to serve, Mateus’ family makes a point of not serving certain foods on Christmas day, namely fish.

“No fish for Christmas,” he said, adding that it was an inherited belief he could not explain. The closest possible explanation for the custom is that fish comes from the sea, which represents a form of higher power and thus off limits for celebrations.

East and west, north and south, wherever and however one celebrates it and whatever becomes the highlight of the feast, Christmas – like perhaps any other religious celebration – boils down to being together and sharing joyous moments with family and friends.

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