With the Balinese holiday Galungan and the holy month
of Ramadan coinciding this month, some lovely depictions of inter-religious
unity between Hindus and Muslims in Bali have been circulated widely on social
media lately.
The Galungan holiday, which commemorates the triumph
of good (dharma) over evil (adharma), is a 10-day festival that takes place
every 210 days on the Balinese Saka calendar schedule, starting tomorrow and
ending on Kuningan on April 24. Meanwhile, the holy month of Ramadan, which is
practiced as a month of fasting by Muslims worldwide, started yesterday evening
in Indonesia.
Prayers, dinners, and social events are popular places
for the two holidays to be celebrated.
One specific picture, seen below, has been widely shared
on social media, as it depicts a Muslim and a Balinese Hindu giving each other
blessings for their respective festivities.
The picture is part of an ad campaign for the local
clothing company Hanaka & Co. The advertisement also includes a video of a Balinese
Hindu man giving a lift to a Muslim man on his walk to the mosque, captioned
"Appreciating differences, forming togetherness. Because diversity is
a wonderful thing that will benefit us all.”
These posts have also been reshared by several public
pages, including the precinct in Klungkung regency, which shared it on their
Social media page. People tend to value the promise of peace behind them, even
though it is only marketing.
“It gives me chills to see beautiful things like
this,” one user commented on Instagram.
“The beauty of tolerance… even if this video was set up…
I hope it can be like that and all religions can live harmoniously side by
side,” another said.
This photo from Instagram user @aprileaan_ is also
making the rounds this week, depicting a similar sentiment of tolerance.
Ramadan Kareem and
Rahajeng rahina Galungan lan Kuningan to those of you who celebrate!