Balinese Christians celebrate Christmas traditionally. They went to church dressed in customary on Christmas Eve. Young girls and mothers use "kebaya", while men use black "kamen" and white shirt, complete with Balinese headband. Church complex is also decorated with "penjor", a series of young coconut leaf on a piece of bamboo, a typical Balinese decoration.
In Tuka village, Kuta, Badung regency, along the road are decorated with "penjor", add a festive celebration of Christmas. It is a tradition handed down from ancestors. Tuka is the first village in Bali where the population embraced Christianity since 1935.
"Penjor" decoration is one effort to preserve Balinese art and culture heritage, in addition to maintaining and establishing harmony between faiths that had been established.
On Christmas day I host a special supper for Balinese friends and relatives; and every year I find my self fielding more and more questions about the significance of this day. Why do Christian celebrate it? Why do some people spell it X-mas? Why do they decorate trees and exchange presents? Who was Santa Claus?
Some of those customs go so far back in history that even many of today's Christians no longer remember how they originated.
Christmas, the 25th of December, is celebrated as the birthday of Jesus Christ. Few theologians today think that was the actual day of His birth but the day was officially set by the Catholic Church in A.D 440. X is the 22nd letter of Greek alphabet, chi, and was used for centuries by church officials as an abbreviation of Xpurros, the Greek word for Christ.
Christmas falls two days after the Winter Solstice; one of the two times in the year when the Sun is furthest from the Equator. The Solstice begins on December 21st. and in the Northern Hemisphere marks the beginning of winter. Many pagans believe that on Solstice and Equinox the temporal world where we live touches the Spiritual World. They are magical times and each has a special significance and lesson. Summer Solstice, for instance, or Midsummer's Night, is a celebration of both life and death. Since it is the longest day of the year, June 21st marks the triumph of the Sun and light, but also marks the beginning of the Sun's decline into darkness and death. Winte Solstice, or Yule, has the same duality. The triumph of darkness and death also marks the rebirth of the new Sun.
In ancient Greece the Lenai festival was held in December and was probably a Winter Solstice Ritual : the Rustic or Rural Dionysia commemorating the birth of the new Sun Child and fertility in general. The ancient Roman celebrated the festival of Saturnalia from December 19th to the 25th; a week of merrymaking and freedom from restraint. The ancient Celts and later the Anglo Saxons called this Solstice Yule and also celebrated it as the birthday of the Sun.
The Celtics Druids and the Saxons burned Yule logs. The logs were usually of oak and the ashes were mixed with cow dung and spread across the field as a prayer for prosperous crops in the dates all the way back to Ancient Rome. It came to England from Germany when Queen Victoria married Prince Albert in 1840. Santa Claus came to England about the same time.
The custom of exchanging presents may have originated with England's Boxing Day. On the day after Christmas the poor boxes of the churches were opened and the money called the Dole of the Christmas Box was distributed among the poor. As far as Mr.Claus, there are many stories from many countries about his original but most scholars agree that his myth is based on the life of the Christian Saint Nicholas.
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