(Writer Dr. Ec Agung Budi Rustanto – Editor-in-Chief of INFOKU tabloid – compiled from 9 different sources)
OF COURSE for a Muslim, Eid is a thrilling moment, a holiday whose arrival is eagerly awaited.
It is no different from Christmas for Christians or Nyepi for Hindus in Bali.
After a full month of fasting, the arrival of Eid al-Fitr is like a caterpillar emerging from its cocoon to find a new atmosphere.
The Prophet said that after fasting in Ramadan a person becomes holy.
Eid al-Fitr means Return to Purity.
Holy because Ramadan has burned sins and mistakes.
Through the cauldron of Ramadan, these mistakes are burned away and humans are returned to point zero, the starting point of departure.
Stepping on a Shawwal with new realization and new enthusiasm is completely based on the anchor of spiritual strength.
'Newness' is important because this kind of atmosphere is usually what can inject bright hope in hacking into future history.
Novelty as a guide to break the dark history of the past.
social context of nation, government and officials who offer new systems which usually get a positive response from the public.
Old systems and mentalities are usually identified with all forms of flaws, defects and fraud.
So our obligation is to maintain purity.
How the spirit of Ramadan continually guards us so that we don't fall and get caught up in actions that can pollute the meaning of holiness.
Purity that can save someone when they return to the bosom of the Most Pure Being, to the Holy One.
It reminds me of Ajip Rosidi's poem entitled Hari Lebaran.
Today is the day of the heart to believe in the meaning of life and death
Which we only have time to think about once a year.
It really has great meaning
The long road to the grave
Today is tradition awareness day
Taking a moment for the congregation to be together
Breathe a breath of relief in the midst of suffering
Everyday things make people distance themselves
Today is my first day of living
Living among humans, while I am alone
Getting more and more lonely and isolated, because I understand
The emptiness of the eagle in the high sky'.
Spreading forgiveness
On this holiday, we openly extend our forgiveness to our relatives and friends.
So Eid al-Fitr is often also called Lebaran, extending blessings to each other, forgiving each other.
Because ontologically humans are creatures who are not free from mistakes, forgiveness is the gateway to unraveling those mistakes.
Humans are not angels who never make mistakes, nor are they devils who are forever lost. Humans are in two pendulums, between the pull of truth and the temptation of error.
Between getting closer to angels or falling into the arms of animalistic demons.
Between the bright world and being swept away by the waves of darkness.
Faalhamaha fujuraha wa taqwaha
Within humans flow the potential of Fujur (negative) and the potential of Taqwa (positive).
Which of the two is more dominant? At this point the true essence of 'jihad' must be placed.
The greatest jihad, said the Prophet, is not militancy in brandishing clubs and shouting Allahu Akbar while considering those who do not share the same understanding and beliefs as infidels, but rather a battle within the soul between these two potentials.
When fujur becomes the direction of qibla, humans can be more vicious than demons, and can be more miserable than animals .
On the contrary, when piety is the foundation, human dignity can surpass that of angels, rising to the highest spiritual throne.
With bright faces full of happiness, we stretch out our hands to shake hands while saying forgiveness through the expression minal aidin wal faizin taqabbalallahu minna waminkum.
Not only are living families visited to stay in touch, we also visit ancestors who have long died and pray for their safety in the afterlife.
In the context of Indonesian culture, a visit for the sake of friendship may require traveling hundreds of kilometers in routine traffic jams, or what we call the homecoming tradition.
Thousands of travelers or even more at the same time are willing to crowd and roast on the streets in order to fulfill their ancient longing for their hometown, to fulfill their longing for their cultural origins.
'Hometown' as a place where symbolic interactions are directed does not only refer to geographical meaning, but also spiritual meaning.
In the hands of travelers, it is as if the distance is folded.
For them, nothing is eternal except memories of their 'hometown'.
Memories that in fact cannot be buried mentally even though they have long wandered and become part of urban society.
No matter how far you wander, in the end it is nothing more than a cultural-psychological process of planting memories that are expressed at least once a year in the form of a heroic homecoming.
Maybe sociologically, only in the Indonesian archipelago do people return to their hometowns simultaneously, and the state must be involved, taking part in regulating it with codes related to typical foods.
Eid; Operation Ketupat! Why ketupat?
There may be some truth in what Claude Levi Strauss, a French anthropologist, said that 'food' is not only about the stomach but can be an index of a broader culture.
I don't know whether it is because of this awareness that the police have adopted ketupat as a symbol in managing traffic on holidays.
In practice, it turns out that it is not just about returning to the village, but also the narrative that is told to relatives and neighbors about the city where they are staying, often spreads the allure to the people who are still in the village to also migrate and risk their fate in the city.
Finally, after Eid, the city surrounded the village and after Eid, the village surrounded the city.
Atmosphere of Religiosity
It must be admitted that during Ramadan a person's piety index usually increases.
Not only is fasting done, but also all goodness is done with full sincerity.
Zakat, alms, waking up at night, and tadarusan are inseparable parts of the days of Ramadan.
Even during the fasting month, all television stations have their program menus adapted to the spirit of Ramadan.
Not only are we 'surrounded' by lectures before breaking the fast and during sahur, even the presenters and all the artists who usually expose their bodies and stage a hedonistic lifestyle, during Ramadan suddenly show themselves to be no different from 'santri' and even 'ustaz'.
In the last ten years, the dai and tahfidz Al-Quran competitions have become a mandatory menu during Ramadan.
In some places, the enthusiasm for fasting is so high that Satpol PP even feels the need to raid food stalls that are seen as disturbing people who are fasting, hiding behind sharia regulations.
The state suddenly felt it had an obligation to take care of someone's worship, which was actually personal in nature.
However, it should also be noted that the rituals performed often stop at just ceremonies.
After completing the ritual, the business is finished.
It is at this intersection that the paradoxical phenomenon emerges.
One Syawal seems to be a valve for people to return to their original negative habitat. Almost Ramadan has no good impact personally, culturally, especially socially........ Happy Eid al-Fitr 1446 H, Please forgive me physically and mentally. ###
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