There Is Christmas In The City Of Serambi Makkah Aceh

Christmas celebration illustration (Wiktor / Pixabay)

JAKARTA - Aceh is a province in Indonesia whose capital is in Banda Aceh. This city is one of the provinces in Indonesia that has been given a special status as a special region.

The city is located at the northern tip of Sumatra Island and is the westernmost region in Indonesia. The majority of the population of Aceh is Muslim. However, there are a small part of the community who adhere to other beliefs.

Based on the 2010 population census, conducted by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), as many as 4,413,244 or 98.18 percent of the population of Aceh is Muslim. Meanwhile, the number of Christians is 50,309.

Even though Christians make up less than two percent of the total population in Aceh, there are recorded 61 church units consisting of 19 Catholic churches and 42 Christian churches. This allows Christians in Aceh to continue to carry out their worship according to their beliefs.

In Banda Aceh, for example, the Christian community has begun to prepare themselves by decorating their churches ahead of the Christmas celebration on December 25 in an area known as Serambi Makkah.

Launching from Antara, the assistant of the Sacred Heart Parish Catholic Church in Banda Aceh, Pastor Ibrahim, said that the preparations for this year's Christmas were running smoothly. According to him, Christians in Banda Aceh interpret the 2019 Christmas celebration by giving and understanding and loving between religious communities.

"For us, Christmas is how we share, give ourselves, in terms of being able to understand each other, can understand and love. Because that is the most basic law in our belief," said Pastor Ibrahim.

In addition, he hopes that the celebration of Christmas in the westernmost province of Indonesia can run smoothly without any form of discrimination, as a minority community in Banda Aceh.

Christmas Eve illustration (Pixabay)

Tent Church in Aceh Singkil

Not all churches in Banda Aceh are decorated with Christmas ornaments or the reverberations of the congregation's songs that sound solemn. Members of the Pak-Pak Dairi Christian Church (GKPPD) Sangga Beru in Mount Meriah, Aceh Singkil Regency, for example, are forced to celebrate Christmas in a simple way.

In simple terms, the people there celebrate Christmas under a tent that is rudimentary on the ground. The term 'Tenda Church' is also attached to Christians in Aceh Singkil, because they no longer have a proper place of worship.

Summarized from BBC Indonesia, this is the fifth year they have to be forced to celebrate Christmas without building a house of worship. This happened in the aftermath of the mass vandalism of churches that were deemed not licensed.

Aceh has a special law called Qanun, which regulates the construction of places of worship. In Aceh Qanun No. 4 of 2016 Chapter V Article 14, states that the construction of a church must be supported by at least 110 local residents who are Muslims-apart from Christians themselves.

This certainly makes it difficult for Christians in the area to build churches. This is because the number of Christians continues to grow, but no local Muslim population wants and allows the construction of churches in their area.

As a result, Christians in Aceh Singkil have only been able to worship at the 'Tenda Church' for the last few years. They used the land belonging to one of the congregations to carry out simple worship.