The Atmosphere Of This Year's Christmas Cathedral Is Wrapped In An Archipelago Theme

Cathedral Church (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - The Jakarta Cathedral Church is getting ready to welcome the celebrations ahead of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. Tents and chairs are neatly arranged in the courtyard around the church, sharing Christmas-style knick-knacks adorning various corners.

All preparations for the Christmas Mass have been completed at the cathedral, especially the coordination of church administrators so that the congregation can solemnly carry out Christmas services.

The courtyard of the Jakarta Cathedral Church was transformed into a place of Christmas worship (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

The Christmas Mass at the Cathedral today was held three times, namely at 16.30 WIB, 19.30 WIB, and 22.00 WIB. Prior to the first Mass, security at the Jakarta Cathedral Church was tightened. In front of the church, a Baracuda car was parked and security of a number of joint officers from the TNI, Polri, to Satpol PP around the church.

Entering the Cathedral courtyard, the atmosphere of the archipelago is present in the theme of this year's Christmas decorations. There are hanging ornaments with Cirebon, Manado, and Papua batik patterns hanging on various sides.

The atmosphere of the Jakarta Cathedral Church for Christmas 2019 (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

In the front yard of the church, there is a straw Christmas tree adorned with twinkling lights and star decorations. On the center side, a number of church poles are wrapped around batik cloth from Betawi, Java, Bali, NTT, and so on.

When entering the church, the statue depicting the atmosphere of the birth of Jesus also received a touch of the Nusantara theme. A statue of a newborn Jesus wrapped in batik cloth.

"The theme for the decoration is Nusantara celebrating Christmas, so everything is related to Nusantara, about Nusantara fabrics. Then there are some characteristics of the archipelago," said the PR of the Jakarta Archdiocese of the Cathedral Church Susyana Suwadie when met at the Cathedral, Central Jakarta, Tuesday, December 24.

Public Relations of the Jakarta Archdiocese of the Susyana Suwadie Cathedral (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

Meanwhile, the Archbishop of Jakarta Cardinal Ignatius Suharyo explained that the alliance of churches throughout Indonesia mandated this year's Christmas message with the theme of life as a friend to all people.

"This motto is appointed to invite Christians in Indonesia, especially to make Christmas meaningful in context," said Suharyo.

Suharyo explained why his party took the theme of the Christmas message. He said, the condition of diversity in Indonesia is currently disturbed by the problem of hate speech that separates the closeness between religious believers.

Not to mention, the heralded issue of identity politics has led to intolerance. Therefore, this year's Christmas message is intended to reduce any triggers for religious division.

"By celebrating Christmas, Christians are invited to nurture brotherhood, maintain harmony in life, nurture togetherness which is the original character of our nation," explained Suharyo.

The atmosphere of the Jakarta Catholic Church at Christmas 2019 (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)