Articles about 'Indonesia'
December 23rd, 2012
Linda Nataprawira wrote from Indonesia:
Mother’s day = "onde" day
December 22nd is Mother’s Day in Indonesia. In indo-chinese tradition, we always make "onde" on that day too. They’re made of glutinous flour and filled with peanuts & sugar inside. The taste is sweet.
Onde is also called onde-onde. Sometimes it’s served in...
September 1st, 2012
Here’s a short video about different sounds instruments make from around the world…
Enjoy!
Mama Lisa
February 17th, 2012
Open Culture has a page of free language learning links covering 40 languages.
Here are some of the languages you can find links for…
Arabic, English, Chinese, French, Spanish, Bulgarian, Catalan, Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Gaelic, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Latin, Lithuanian, Luxembourgish, Maori, Norwegian, Portuguese, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Swahili,...
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February 13th, 2012
We take a lot of hikes and recently we’ve been coming upon arrangements of stones stacked on top of each other like those in the photo. I couldn’t help but wonder if there’s a significance to these sculptures?
My cousin, James Yannucci, who has travelled all over Asia and lives in China saw my photo and...
May 22nd, 2011
Wayang puppets are from Indonesia. They’re used in shadow puppet theater that’s also called Wayang. Wayang refers to both the puppets and the type of shadow puppet theater.
Here’s a video about Wayang Puppet Theater…
Video about Wayang Puppet Theater
The photo below shows antique wayangs owned by Purabi Khisa.
Purabi wrote, "My wayangs… So far as I remember,...
April 1st, 2011
April 1st is April Fools Day which means that in the US, France and elsewhere around the world, people will be playing pranks on each other.
I was pleased and surprised to learn that it’s also celebrated in Indonesia and Bangladesh!
Linda N. wrote from Indonesia…
"The same in Indonesia, we call it April Mop. Many...
February 12th, 2011
Lin wrote to me about Valentine’s Day traditions for both adults and kids in Indonesia. Here’s what she wrote:
Lisa, Valentine’s Day is well known here in Indonesia in big cities, many events are held (between February 14 – 28/29) usually having Valentine’s themes. We call Valentine Day Hari Kasih Sayang (Love/Caring Day).
We usually celebrate...
November 26th, 2010
Zee Avi is a wonderful singer from Malay. She sings in both Malay and English.
Below is a video of a medley she created using English and Malay lullabies. Here’s what she wrote about it…
Some of my favourite lullabies that were sung to me by my mother and grandmother when i was a little one...
February 28th, 2010
Dedy Dowo sent me this photo of young Indonesians dressed for a traditional dance.
Dedy said: "They do a dance of traditional java that’s called Jaranan or Jatilan (Horse dance)."
I asked if it was performed for any specific event and Dedy wrote: "Yes it is, usually in a traditional ceremony or to celebrate a birthday...
February 25th, 2010
Dedy Dowo sent me these lovely photos of children in Indonesia!
Many thanks to Dedy Dowo and all the children and their families for sharing these photos!
February 23rd, 2010
In the US, it’s common for sons to be named after their fathers (though not always). Often people will give middle names to honor a grandparent… sometimes first names too. For Jewish people, they use the first initial of a relative in naming their children. So if you’re naming the child after a grandfather named...
February 23rd, 2010
Lin from Indonesia shared these photos of typical Indonesian food served at a banquet.
Lin said, "It is common in Indonesian banquet style (formal or informal) to serve the feast on particular leaves. Usually we used banana leaves, teak (jati) leaves, coconut tree leaves, etc. They’re all arranged on a rounded ethnic winnowing tray (tampah).
These...
January 15th, 2010
Back in November I posted a French Pat-a-cake Song and talked about how this type of song seems to be universal throughout the western world. It looks like Pat-a-cake songs are sung in parts of Asia too. Lin Fadelan from Indonesia sent me these Indonesian Pat-a-cake songs below…
Tepuk Tepuk Tangan
(Bahasa Indonesia)
Tepuk Tepuk Tangan
Berputar-putar
Tangan...
December 12th, 2009
Ketupat is traditionally eaten for Idul Fitri in Indonesia
I recently wrote about Eid’l Fitr, the Muslim holiday marking the end of Ramadan. In Indonesia it’s called Idul Fitri.
Dedy Subandowo, an Indonesian, wrote to me about Idul Fitri:
…I am really happy to face this fasting month because after finishing the Ramadan month, we will...
December 7th, 2009
I asked Lin from Indonesia about Ramadan and Eid’l Fitr. Here’s what she wrote…
Eid’l Fitr is the closing of Ramadhan, celebrating the winning of ‘fighting’ ourselves during Ramadhan month. During Ramadhan month, we don’t eat, drink, smoking etc. We also don’t do anything bad, instead we need to worship and be good to...
December 6th, 2009
Lin wrote to me about the December holidays in Indonesia…
When I was a kid, about one third of my neighbors were Christian (Catholic, Protestant, Advent etc). Before Christmas, we kids ‘helped’ them prepare their houses for Christmas (by tasting their cookies, cakes, and their traditional cuisines/meals, decorating their houses and Christmas trees etc.). What...
August 20th, 2009
I learned this week that Indonesia has tens of thousands of islands. According to the Encyclopedia Britannica, Indonesia has 13,670 islands, over half of which are inhabited. Wikipedia puts the number over 17,000. The truth is that the number of islands continuously changes due to seismic activity in the area.
Indonesia is the fourth most populous...
August 17th, 2009
August 17th is Independence Day in Indonesia. Lin Fdln sent me this song called “Hallo Hallo Bandung” that’s sung in Indonesia for the holiday. Here’s what Lin wrote to me, followed by the lyrics to the song, an English translation and a YouTube video…
This is a song from the revolutionary period, when Indonesia...
March 6th, 2009
Joseph Banks Cassava Root Chips are an exotic and relatively healthy snack. Most important – they’re delicious!
In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll tell you straight out, these chips are sold by my friend’s company. Also, I’m eating them right now and I’m going to have a hard time keeping myself from polishing them...
February 22nd, 2009
We’d love it if you’d join the Mama Lisa Facebook Group. You can post anything you’d like about your culture. You can post your own musical recordings or YouTube videos… Links to culture and musical sites… Photos of your country… Questions about songs or cultural issues… Anything related to World Culture and...
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