Ada Ceremony, Pak - Tropical Living

Here at Tropical Living Towers, we find that religion and holidays can be a moving feast. This time of year, what with Ramadan and Idul Fitri, many of our staff suddenly become devout Muslims. Come Christmas time, and over Easter, Church going increases by alarming rates. And, by april, we all look forward to celebrating hari Waisak, the main Buddhist holiday of the year. The rest of the time we’re all Hindus, since there are umpteen Balinese ceremonies and holy days, of varying degrees, regionally and by importance, that we ‘bules’ have no hope whatsoever of understanding, remembering or being able to figure out whether or not they warrant time off. But worry ye not, dear reader(s)! Tropical Living presents you with the essential Indonesian holiday guide, graded in terms of ‘holiday eligibility’. Cut this out and stick it on your fridge!

It’s Tuesday. Your driver, a splendid fellow called Ketut, comes up to you and says ‘Ma’af, pak, mau hari libur besok.’ Sorry, sir, I need a day off tomorrow. ‘Ada ceremony’. Ah, yes of course. Ceremony. Must respect Balinese culture, yes, yes, of course you must have a day off, have a good ceremony, off you go. So on Wednesday, you get up early, drive your kids to school, no big deal, apart from very nearly killing five motor cyclists on the bypass, then you pick up your wife and drop her off at the yoga class and then you drive yourself to the office, and then reverse the process a couple of hours later. No worries. Apart from the fact that it seems to happen every Tuesday and every other Monday, too. Ketut must have an awful lot of ceremonies to go to, you say to yourself. A most devout chap.

On Thursday, your secretary pops her head around the corner and says, ‘We will be closing the office tomorrow, won’t we, sir, for Kenaikan Isa Almasih?’ Now, you haven’t got a clue what Kenaikan Isa Almasih means, so you ask. ‘Oh, it is day of Ascension, sir, famous Christian holiday, everyone is closed, sir.’ Eh? Ascension day? What on earth is that? So you Google it.The day when Christ ascended into heaven. Falls 40 days after Easter. Really? You must close then? You try and remember if your office back home closed on Ascension Day or not, or if, when you were a kid, you had to go to church on Ascension Day. But, let’s face it, you only go to church for weddings and funerals these days, but religion is taken very seriously here in Bali, any religion is respected, and isn’t that wonderful?

This is why you moved to Bali in the first place, this spiritual island full of temples! Who are you to say that the office shouldn’t be closed on Ascension Day? Perhaps half your work force are devout Christians, having pined for, no, craved for, longed for, the day when Ascension Day would come, so that they could humbly thank their God for, er, ascending, I guess, in an upwards direction, heavenwards. What a bastard heathen you are, even thinking of not closing on Ascension Day? Shame on you! So you close the office and everyone has a day off.

So on Friday, your unexpected day off, you drive around town, expecting the High Street shops to be closed, offices empty, people devoutly going to church, no traffic. Except to and from church maybe, in a pious fashion. But no; every single shop is open, happy people walking around shopping everywhere. Your dentist calls and asks why you missed your appointment, the plumber shows up at your house to fix the bathroom tap and your angry architect calls to ask why you weren’t at the site meeting.

‘But it’s Kenaikan Isa Almasih!’ you protest feebly, pronouncing it badly. ‘Everything’s closed today! By decree! We must all shut! Don’t you know anything about Balinese culture?’ you say, indignantly, hoping to muster up some cultural authority towards your architect, who is married to a Balinese girl and has lived her for 19 years (you’ve lived here for four months).

Ah. Oh dear. You’ve been ‘holiday-ed’. Happens to all of us. In your defense, it is all very confusing; there are four types of holidays in Indonesia: you’ve got religious, national, international and commemorative holidays. Ones that are designated tanggal merah (literally red date, or a date that is designated in red on a calendar) signify national holidays when government offices, schools, banks, and most businesses, well, some businesses, are closed. In addition, you have a plethora of Balinese holidays and local ceremonies of varying degrees of importance. Some of them you really need to close on, some of them you need to give those of that particular religion a day off on, some you need to give time off for depending on where they live, and in addition there are various occasions that warrant time off as well. Confused? You won’t be for much longer. Here we go:

You Must be Closed on These Holidays

January 1’st (Tahun Baru), self explanatory. No religious connotation. Everyone’s hung over, everyone’s off. You’d want to be closed anyway.Nyepi is my favourite holiday anywhere in the world, let alone in Bali. It’s lunar, and falls in March or April. It’s the Hindu Day of Silence; the Hindu New Year in the Balinese Saka calendar. Larges celebrations are held in Bali, but also in Balinese Hindu communities around Indonesia. On the day before, the villages are cleaned, food is cooked for 2 days and in the evening as much noise is made as possible to scare away the devils. You’ve seen the big effigies everywhere, representing evil, scary ghosts and spirits, and George Bush? These are the ones being burnt on the eve of Nyepi. Drums beating, effigies set alight, guns fired, a big hoopla. Then everyone runs home at 10PM and shuts their doors. On the following day and night, nobody leaves their homes, cook or engage in any activity. Streets are deserted, and tourists are not allowed to leave hotel complexes. The airport in Bali is shut. How cool is that? Where else in the world do you shut an airport for 36 hours to commemorate a religious event? Nowhere, that’s where.

On a side note; you can forget Earth Day, and all these ‘save the planet’ days. Nyepi is the real deal; no cars, no planes, no air cons, no light. Nothing. It is wonderful. A lot of expats go to Lombok or Singapore for Nyepi, or check into hotels so they can at least get a hot meal. We don’t, and you shouldn’t either. Can’t you survive one day, one single day, without cooked food, TV, stereo and air con, reading a book by candle light in peace and silence? Of course you can. So embrace it; it will do you the world of good.

Independence Day August 17th. Indonesians celebrate the proclamation of independence from 350 years of Dutch colonial rule. And since the Dutch were possibly the absolute worst colonialists ever (closely followed by the Belgians), it’s a very worth-while celebration indeed. Good riddance to them, I say! Lots of flag-waving going on. Put a flag on your car as well. Swelling chests and parades galore.

You Should be Closed on These Holidays

Galungan and Kuningan celebrates the coming of the Gods and the ancestral spirits to earth to dwell again in the homes of the descendants. The festivities are characterized by offerings, dances and presents all round. It comes every six months, but this means six Balinese months, and each Balinese month is 35 days. Confused? Doesn’t matter, but it thus moves forward every year; this year it was in April and October. Galungan is on a Wednesday and Kuningan is ten days later, on a Saturday. You must give the Wednesday and Saturday off, but you should give the preceding Tuesday and Friday off as well, to give people time to prepare the ceremonies. But for Galungan and Kuningan itself, all your Balinese staff must be off, and since most of your staff are Balinese, it would be churlish not to close the office.Lebaran and Idul Fitri. The end of the month of Ramadan, the Muslim month of fasting. Mass prayers are held in mosques and large open areas around the country. Celebrated with the traditional dish ketupat and visiting with family and friends. Charity donations (amal) are traditionally given at this time. Just prior to Lebaran a mass exodus (mudik) from Jakarta of over 3 million people occurs as residents return to their villages to celebrate with family and friends. Begging of forgiveness for any transgressions or slights in the past year is expressed during visits, Mohon Maaf Lahir dan Batin. A Lebaran bonus, THR, is traditionally given to all Muslim staff or employees prior to the holidays. This is the main holiday of the year, and you must give the whole week off for your Muslim staff. In the Muslim parts of Indonesia, everything stops for most of Ramadan and certainly for the week of Idul Fitri; in Bali, you should really close your business on the two days of Idul Fitri itself.

Your Muslim staff must also be given the day off on Maulid Nabi, the birthday of the Prophet Mohammed (peace be upon him), but your Hindu, Christian and Buddhist staff will work as usual.Christmas is of these days celebrated by everyone, regardless of religion or history, and although there is no specific law that says so, you should close for Christmas Eve and Christmas day. So go on, close your shop or your restaurant over Christmas, who cares if 90% of your staff are Hindu and you lose two days of trade? Who are you; Mr. Scrooge? Your Christian staff must also be given a holiday for Good Friday and Easter.

Important, But No Need to Close The Office

Obviously, your Chinese staff must be given a week off for Chinese New Year. All Chinese people go home to their families, massive festivities are held, gifts exchanged and dragon dances danced. But no need to close the office. Unless all your staff are Chinese, of course.

Finally, if you’re Buddhist, you must be given time off for Hari Waisak, which celebrates the birth, enlightenment and death of Lord Buddha. Again, it is lunar, and usually falls in April. Again, no need to close the office, as there aren’t that many Buddhists in Bali.

Holidays You Can Happily Ignore

Hari Kartini, celebrating the birthday of Raden Ajeng Kartini, a prominent leader in the women's emancipation movement, on April 21’st; Hari Pendidikan Nasional - National Education Day, on May 2’nd; Hari Kebangkitan Nasional - National Awakening Day, May 22’nd; Army Day, on October 5th; celebrating the, er, many glories and heroic achievements of the military and its, how to put this, unique position in Indonesian society, Youth Day (Hari Sumpah Pemuda) on October 28th; and finally Mother’s Day, on December 22’nd; can happily be ignored with impunity. Except Mother’s Day. Call your mother, for God’s sake! She’s not getting any younger, you know.

Annual Bonuses

As you know, in Indonesia you pay 13 months salary per year. These are distributed at the main holidays; Galungan, Lebaran, Christmas, Chinese New Year and Hari Waisak respectively. But if you, like us, have a multi-culti office, you may want to consider giving it in a month with no main holiday, for reasons of simplicity and equality; August is good, for example.

Other Reasons for Mandatory (Paid) Holidays

In addition to the above, everyone in Bali is entitled to twelve days paid holiday. But there are many other reasons where you must also give your staff paid time off. These are as follows: for his or her wedding, you must give two days off, and a nice fat Oleh-Oleh (gift, in the form of cash), you tight-fisted Shylock, and likewise when the child of an employee gets married, but no gift required here. If you are close and friendly with the person getting married, you will be invited to the wedding. There is no mandatory obligation to go, but you should make an appearance; you don’t have to stay for the whole thing, but you should go for a while, show your face, do the right thing. Be a good sport!

If there is a death in the immediate family (spouse, parent, child, sibling) you give two days off, and with less immediate family (e.g. grandparents, auntie Vera), you give one day off. And you will contribute to the funeral; this is your duty and your obligation. If you are close to the affected staff member, you will also make an appearance at the funeral. Again, no need to stay for hours, but you should pay your respects, as well you would if you were in Germany of Australia if you have any manners.Balinese Hindus also have a major ceremony for cutting teeth (Potong Gigi), which gives you a day off, and when a woman is pregnant, she gets 45 days paid leave before and after the birth.

Other occasions where you must grant leave, but the leave comes out of the paid vacation time, or if the staff member prefers, unpaid leave, are things like Banjar Ceremonies, local temple ceremonies, social ceremonies (weddings of friends and relatives, funerals, etc) and courses and further education.

If you are a nice person, you give these things, within reasons, as additional paid leave, but remember that you should start as you mean to continue; there is no such thing as a one-time favour in Bali. Precedents are set and remembered.