Death in Indonesia

[Jaime C]

As someone who was raised in the US with almost no exposure to Muslims it is interesting to see how death is handled in Indonesia.

In our neighborhood, there have been a lot of older members who have passed away from disease. Usually these residents are in their 60s, 70s, or 80. As a non-Muslim Bule, I am not expected normally to attend or participate in the burial.

I just left Indonesia last week, and one of my wife's uncle died a few days later on Saturday. It is interesting to see the differences in both burial and religious observations. It seems that burial is usually done the same day or one day later. And that family members will pray for three days for the deceased.

I know there is another ceremony later. 40 days later?

 

[Anglian]

My wife tells me 3, 7, 40, 100 and then 1000 days and every 3 years after that some prayers at Ramadan

 

[pinky321]

Yep, Muslims ceremony held 3,7,40,100,1000 days. Not sure about for every 3 years

My wife tells me 3, 7, 40, 100 and then 1000 days and every 3 years after that some prayers at Ramadan

 

[Bad_azz]

Yep, Muslims ceremony held 3,7,40,100,1000 days. Not sure about for every 3 years

My hubby said that it is usual to say prayers every year for the loved ones who died (in his family, the day after Idul Fitri).

 

[atlantis]

Yep, Muslims ceremony held 3,7,40,100,1000 days. Not sure about for every 3 years

Where I live Christians ceremonies are held 3, 7, 40 days and 1 year after the death.

 

[Dan]

I know there is another ceremony later. 40 days later?

I think it's originally a South Asian thing. There's no evidence for it in Islam (the mourning period is four months?), but my understanding is that Austronesians as far as Catholic Filipinos have this tradition. Interestingly I know that Pakistanis do it, and I suspect Indian Hindus (probably the origin) do it too.

 

[fastpitch17]

At least Indonesia doesn't have wailing. My understanding is that there are no heavily emotional outbreaks accepted.

 

[fastpitch17]

The mention of Filipino Catholics brought back a memory. The Catholics there and in Guam feel the spirits of the departed remain among them for 40 days. During this time it is believed that they hang out and many times play practical jokes. If you have ever sat in an office and suddenly there is a whiff of cologne in the air and watch a bunch of Women and Men go hysterical, you know what I mean.

 

[Anglian]

The other thing which is a bit amusing is the mad rush to be buried, going down BSD today the posse of motor bike riders waving yellow flags forcing everyone out the way to let the fleet of morners through, the speed they were moving I jokingly said he is going to be late for his funeral, my wife said,yes,he has to be buried before 3pm, it was 2.40pm, hope he made it without any loss of life to the motor cyclists who were racing along with little concern to their own safety.

 

[HappyMan]

The other thing which is a bit amusing is the mad rush to be buried, going down BSD today the posse of motor bike riders waving yellow flags forcing everyone out the way to let the fleet of morners through, the speed they were moving I jokingly said he is going to be late for his funeral, my wife said,yes,he has to be buried before 3pm, it was 2.40pm, hope he made it without any loss of life to the motor cyclists who were racing along with little concern to their own safety.

This is a prime example of the sort of traditions that can happily be left by the wayside.
I attended a wedding recently where a police escort was used. I believe the idea is that the wedding party is not meant to stop, as the smooth and easy journey to and from the wedding location is meant to symbolize the smooth and easy journey the married party will have through life. There were six of us in the car, I being the only foreigner. I was not the first one to observe that the police's sirens and billy-clubs seemed to have little impact on Saturday traffic in Bandung. In fact, they seemed to impact nothing other than the paint jobs of the cars to either side of us. It was finally decided that they were a waste of money, though they had not been too expensive. Hopefully their services will not be required in the future. Slowly, but surely, Indonesia will make progress.

 

[Anglian]

This is a prime example of the sort of traditions that can happily be left by the wayside.
I attended a wedding recently where a police escort was used. I believe the idea is that the wedding party is not meant to stop, as the smooth and easy journey to and from the wedding location is meant to symbolize the smooth and easy journey the married party will have through life. There were six of us in the car, I being the only foreigner. I was not the first one to observe that the police's sirens and billy-clubs seemed to have little impact on Saturday traffic in Bandung. In fact, they seemed to impact nothing other than the paint jobs of the cars to either side of us. It was finally decided that they were a waste of money, though they had not been too expensive. Hopefully their services will not be required in the future. Slowly, but surely, Indonesia will make progress.

I like your optimism HappyMan, I watched an Ambulance, sirens blaring trying to get through the traffic, they just didn't move, hope the patient made it, but they do move out of the way for the dead, not the dying

 

[HappyMan]

I like your optimism HappyMan, I watched an Ambulance, sirens blaring trying to get through the traffic, they just didn't move, hope the patient made it, but they do move out of the way for the dead, not the dying

I've seen the same, Anglian. People get so used ignoring to BS, fake, convoys that they don't care about the real ones. I saw an "ambulance" with a political party's logo on the side of it a while back. Seemed to be full of people sitting in bench style seats (no place for a stretcher) as it flashed by, straddling the lanes. Wish I had a video to upload.

I am confident that the police escorted wedding and funeral convoys will become less of a standard occurrence, eventually. The citizens and others pretending to be important by installing lights... might take a bit longer.

 

[Anglian]

I once saw 3 big black Cars blue lights flashing, police number plates, I thought rushing to the airport, wrong going to the golf club, my Taxi driver told me they did that every Monday morning

 

[Bowsaw]

Cost us 250rb this month as each death/circumsision was 50rb donation lol. This seems normal?