Marhaban ya Idul Fitri!

Wishes of Selamat Lebaran, minal aidin wal faizin! are heard everywhere on Idul Fitri. On Idul Fitri Eve, people gather in the mosques for takbir prayers (glorification of God) until midnight. In the streets, the sound of the bedug drums and the chanting of Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar is heard from the mosques all through the night. It is a symbol of happiness at the end of the fasting.
Idul Fitri is a celebration of the end of the fasting month. In a very simplified sense, people say that fasting is abstaining from food, drink, etc. But, in fact, it is more difficult to refrain from what the mouth produces than from what the mouth consumes.
Saying "No" to a slice of cake is easier than, for instance, controlling our temper. In prophetic tradition, Muslims are prohibited from hurting others, both non-Muslims and Muslims. Ramadhan is a time for reflection and disengagement, a time of worship and devotion to God, self-discipline, austerity and giving alms. It is also a time for reflection, purifying one's behavior, and doing good deeds. We should also contemplate about our status as a Muslim. We should ask ourselves, "How deep is my faith in Islam and my knowledge about Islam? How great is my reverence for it? To what extent and in what form is my submission to it? Am I accepting the right understandings or teachings of Islam?"
Fasting during Ramadhan is a calendrical rite for Muslims. It is intended as a process of social transformation or as a catharsis.
In Ramadhan, Muslims find themselves in a condition of separation from their previous state or situation. After fasting, they are reborn into society in a transformed state or situation.
In their daily lives, Muslims live in a structured fashion. They eat, drink, work, and wake up in a regular or customary way. Perhaps, they eat three times a day, wake up at 4 or 5 o'clock in the morning, and work from 8 am until 4 pm. In Ramadhan, Muslims live in an anti-structured world. They live outside the normal structures of society.
After Ramadhan, they will return once more to the structure but in different way. What is the intention of this anti-structural life? Just like an initiation process, the anti-structural life is a stage of change in our lives from our past form to a new form.
After the fasting days or the anti-structured period are over, there is Idul Fitri or -- as it called in Indonesia -- Lebaran. It is a religious feast on the first day of the next month when Muslims formally break their fast. Riyoyo -- as it is called in Java -- is a day of victories for those who have fasted during Ramadhan, so Muslims celebrate it.
The meaning of Idul Fitri goes back to the word fithrah. Fithrah is a natural tendency. Therefore, Idul Fitri is a kind of rebirth in a new life, a new Muslim. As a symbol of starting a new life, people tend to wear new clothes, and those who can afford it repaint their houses and brighten up their living rooms with flowers and new furniture.
As a way of preserving a continuous tradition, celebrating a new life in Idul Fitri with symbolic manifestations such as new clothes -- and performing sungkem (kneeling to show respect asking forgiveness from parents) in many traditional families-- might be important. However, is that symbolic manifestation really portraying the process of transforming our lives from the old model (old structure) to the new model (new structure)? Do we truly discard our bad habits? Do we become aware of some bad aspect of our religiosity before Ramadhan and then change it after the holy month?
With Ramadhan and Lebaran, we hope that we will be reborn again with a new identity, as new Muslims. Finally, Lebaran is all about giving, forgiving, charity, feasts, and, above all, starting a new life! Happy Idul Fitri 1426 H. May the spirit of forgiveness and wishing each other well always remain in our hearts.