January 31, 2025
MEDAN – Thousands of Chinese-Indonesians across the archipelago gathered to celebrate Lunar New Year on Wednesday, as communities came together at temples and viharas to bid farewell to the Year of the Dragon and usher in the Year of the Snake.
In Medan, North Sumatra, hundreds of people flocked to Candi Budha Vihara on Wednesday morning. Dressed in red and lighting incense, they prayed for a prosperous year ahead.
“I hope my family and I are blessed with good fortune and health this year,” said one of the vihara attendants, A Lung.
Also on Wednesday, hundreds of visitors made their way to Maitreya Vihara, one of the largest Buddhist temples in Medan.
The vihara showcased a large red and gold snake statue to mark the arrival of the Year of the Snake, which symbolizes wisdom and vitality in Chinese culture.
In the vihara courtyard, 3,000 lanterns were hung, each adorned with a small piece of paper carrying the wishes of vihara attendants.
To ensure safety during the Lunar New Year celebrations, Medan Police deployed over 2,100 personnel to secure 278 viharas and 78 Chinese temples across the city.
In Palembang, South Sumatra, some Chinese-Indonesians marked the Lunar New Year by opening their homes to friends and neighbors of all races and religions.
One of them was 73-year-old Sutopo Sjahudin, who set up a 15 square meter tent and dozens of chairs in his front yard to welcome guests.
He also offered them a variety of traditional Palembang dishes, including the famous pempek (fish cakes), tekwan (fish cake soup) and lapis legit (layered cake).
Sutopo has been hosting the annual gathering since the 1970s, believing that the tradition helps foster friendship and harmony within his community.
“We were safe during the 1998 riots that targeted Chinese-Indonesians because our friends and neighbors protected us from the rioters. That’s the value of maintaining good relationships with your community,” he said on Wednesday, as reported by Kompas.id.
In Padang, West Sumatra, the Lunar New Year was celebrated with great fanfare and a variety of traditional Chinese performances.
Over 800 people from different ethnicities and religions gathered at See Hien Kiong Temple after dark to enjoy lion dances, dragon dances, line dances, wushu performances and violin music.
The temple courtyard quickly became overcrowded, with some visitors forced to watch the performances from behind the building’s fences.
Similar festivities took place at Sam Poo Kong Temple in Semarang, Central Java, where hundreds of residents braved the rain to watch a lion dance performance.
Dressed in colorful raincoats and holding umbrellas, the visitors stood in the temple courtyard, enjoying the performance while tasting various delicacies from the food bazaars.
The Lunar New Year sparked a surge in business for many bakeries and small businesses in Bandung, West Java.
Tek Kie, a small shop in Bandung, has sold over 5,000 pieces of kue keranjang (nian gao or basket cakes) in the past week alone.
The customers have come not only from the Chinese-Indonesian community, but also from various other ethnic groups as well.
62-year-old Toni from Cianjur, West Java, made a 62-kilometer motorcycle trip with his wife on Wednesday just to buy kue keranjang from Tek Kie.
“I love the taste of kue keranjang. Even though I don’t celebrate the Chinese New Year, I bought the cakes to share with my family and friends,” he said.
Yanti, 63, a cake vendor at Andir Market in Bandung, also noted that her business had flourished ahead of the Lunar New Year.
“I’ve sold over 1,000 kilograms of kue keranjang. People who celebrate Chinese New Year have also bought other cakes for offerings at the temple,” she said.