For many Chinese-Indonesians, celebrations of the Lunar New Year center on gathering and giving back to family members. To this end, 79-year-old Max Sutrisman from Tangerang in Banten said on Sunday that he was glad to be able to celebrate the holiday with his family in his hometown of Sukabumi, West Java.

“After the government lifted pandemic curbs [late last year], I felt more confident to travel, since it means that COVID-19 is getting less prevalent. While it was a difficult three years, I was glad to finally meet [my relatives] and share with them some happiness through [giving] hong bao,” he said.

Hong bao, also known as ang pao, is money in red envelopes.

In Semarang, Central Java, Aman Gautama Wangsa, chair of the Khong Kauw Hwee foundation, which schools for children from low-income families, has also decided to celebrate the holiday by giving his students kue keranjang (basket cakes), a Chinese New Year delicacy.

Read also: Semarang residents hopeful in the Year of the Rabbit

“Imlek celebrations in the past few years have been muted as a result of the pandemic,” said Aman on Thursday. “Now that movement restrictions have been lifted, we are hopeful that this Year of the Rabbit, everything will be better.”

Businesses bouncing back

Fifty-one-year-old Hanny Penita, who owns a cake shop in South Tangerang, Banten, said on Sunday that she has been busy for the past few days preparing for Chinese New Year orders. While her cake shop operates all year round, with her lapis legit cake, a traditional layer cake also known as spekkoek, is particularly popular for Chinese New Year festivities.

“For Chinese New Year, it’s all about the lapis legit […] I received orders for about 40 boxes [of lapis legit cakes] this Chinese New Year. While it’s nowhere close to pre-pandemic numbers, I am just happy to make strides [to recovery],” Hanny said.

Hanny said that before the pandemic, her cake shop employed 10 people and usually produced about 200 servings of cakes and pastries on a single day.

Orders, however, dropped by 90 percent when the pandemic started, Hanny said, forcing her to let go of eight of her employees. But, with business back on the rise, she said that she was optimistic for the Chinese New Year to provide the momentum for recovery.

“We have recovered about 20 percent of [our orders],” she said. “I hope [the cake shop] will return to its [pre-pandemic] scale this year.”

Read also: Chinese-Indonesians share their most memorable New Year’s feast

Business owners in Glodok Market in the capital’s Chinatown area of Glodok in West Jakarta have also seen a significant rise in activity this year.

“With the public activity restriction [PPKM] revoked, this year has been busier than the previous years since people are more enthusiastic about celebrating Chinese New Year," Ahung, one of the business owners, said recently, as quoted by Kompas.com.

Barongsai performances

The government’s decision to lift health curbs late last year has also paved the way for the return of barongsai (lion dance) performances.

One such performer is 40-year-old Andri Wijaya and his North Jakarta-based Kong Ha Hong troupe, who showcased their lion dance in a shopping mall in Tangerang.

Andri said that most of Kong Ha Hong’s performers had to focus on other occupations to make ends meet and barely had any regular training throughout the pandemic, but the group recently began to recruit and train new members, in hopes of having more performances this year.

“We [also] aim to enter [barongsai] competitions this year, so we will keep this momentum going,” Andri told The Jakarta Post.