Christian Xmas Celebrations: Palasari, Bali, Indonesia

By Barrie | December 21st, 2006 | No Comments

On the predominately Hindu island of Bali, one would think that churches were few and far between – but they are not. I have come across some old churches dating to the beginning of the last century, and, where the Christian faith is practiced.

Trisha Setori found two such places combining their respective branches of Christianity - the Protestant village of Abyasari and its sister Catholic village of Palasari.

Protestant Abyasari, Catholic Palasari: A tale of two Christmases
Trisha Sertori, Contributor, West Bali

With only around nine percent of Indonesia’s population being Christian, Christmas here is a quieter event than in other nations, such as the Samoan Islands where Christmas carols are heard floating out over the reefs by fishermen, or England, where towns are saturated with people in the last fever-pitch rush to do the Christmas shopping.

But there is a little Christmas surprise package tucked away on the Jembrana Regency side of the almost 20,000 hectare West Bali National Park.

The Protestant village of Abyasari and its sister Catholic village of Palasari, just three kilometers to the east, are home to two of Bali’s Protestant and Catholic Churches.

These churches, come Christmas, will be rich in song floating across the tree tops of the surrounding jungle. Already from the toy-town streets of Abyasari, classic Christmas carols echo from homes, each with its religious symbol of the cross picked out in brickwork above the doors.

This little town, with its manicured gardens and bougainvillea splashes of hot pink, orange and violet, is so quiet the voices of the choristers practicing can be heard everywhere.

Discovering Abyasari, a village snoozing in the afternoon sun, wrapped on all sides by jungle, coconut palms and cacao trees, is like stepping into a picture book, but how the village evolved is not such a pretty story.

Anik, the wife of the Abyasari pastor, Dwi, says the birth of the town dates back nearly 70 years when Bali’s early Protestants were hounded out of their native villages.

“The first Protestant church was built in Karangasem in 1931 after I Made Karangasem changed from Hinduism to Protestantism. There was a small group of us living in Denpasar and Karangasem. Basically, we were thrown out of Denpasar and sent to the jungle here, where it was expected we would die,” Anik said without rancor.

“The people of Denpasar thought that the jungle was full of spirits and ghosts, and that we could not survive. But when you look around at our beautiful village, you can see how well we have done,” Anik says, recalling the difficulties that laid the foundation for today’s thriving Protestant community.

A village dominated by farmers, Anik said chocolate and coconut farming was the backbone of the community’s wealth.

“We are a wealthy and happy community. We do not have drugs or other social problems here. There are just 150 of us living in Abyasari and we live a good life. We lead the nation as a drug-free village — we are very proud of that.”

As in all Christian communities, Christmas is the holiest day on the calendar, and a day for family and community to come together.

Abyasari goes one step further with the entire community of 69 families gathering at their church on the hill for a Christmas celebratory meal, albeit with a Balinese twist.

Freshly killed pigs, highly decorated bamboo poles called penjor and the traditional Balinese costumes of sarong, kebaya and belt for women and udeg hats and double sarongs for men are the order of the day.

“We are a Balinese community and we follow our Balinese traditions. For Christmas here, everyone makes penjor and two days before Christmas we kill pigs for the Christmas meal. On Christmas day, we take the prepared food to our church and all 150 of us share our Christmas dinner,” said Anik.

Just three kilometers away, over jungle roads winding through Muslim and Hindu villages, is the Catholic town of Palasari with its Gothic Catholic church, which looks like it was carried here from Europe on the wings of angels.

Father Laurensius Maryonos from Surakarta has led Palasari’s 1,259 strong congregation for the past five years. He says the original congregation moved from Denpasar in the early 1940s due to a lack of space for a growing Catholic community.

“The people came here because their was no place for us in Denpasar at that time. Catholic people in Denpasar did not have a place to live because they were Catholic, so they opened up the jungle here for rice fields and became farmers. That was when the old town of Palasari was built,” said Father Laurensius, adding that the town later moved west, becoming New Palasari, some years ago when more fertile soils were discovered.

Like Abyasari, Palasari is a pretty town with its Gothic church taking pride of place in the town’s center. And come Christmas, the town will shine, according to Father Laurensius, who said there was always an annual pre-Christmas cleanup of the town in preparation for the big day.

“We have bible studies, choirs and Christmas prayers, alongside Balinese traditions, such as penjor and traditional clothing. It’s an important day for our town,” said Father Laurensius.

Surrounded as they are by Muslim and Hindu villages, both Abyasari’s Anik and Palasari’s Father Laurensius said their region could be held up as an Indonesian model for religious tolerance, both agreeing that people of the four differing religions shared their jungle village homes with respect and friendship.

“We all get along well. There is no religious intolerance here,” Father Laurensius said of the social harmony, which if gift-wrapped and shipped around the archipelago, would be Indonesia’s best Christmas present ever.

Trisha Sertori