First of all, allow me to say Happy Lunar New Year to you who celebrate the event. May the year of the snake brings you health, happiness, and prosperity.
Below are pictures that show the festive atmosphere in some of the old Chinese temples in Tangerang a day before the Lunar New Year. Nowadays, the temples conditions are not old anymore, since they underwent major renovations and also are painted beautifully. According to the historians, however, the temples existence has already been more than 300 years.
Before I continue with the Chinese Temples things, let me give you a brief description about Tangerang, so at least you know the condition of the city. Well, Tangerang is a small city located at the west of Jakarta. As one of Jakarta’s satellite city, many of Tangerang’s residents commute to Jakarta for work. The city is also known to be inhabited by many descendants of the first Chinese that entered Indonesia in the 15th century. These people, now known as the Chinese Indonesian community, like that in other parts of the country.
In Tangerang, many community members assimilated with the locals through marriage, so their appearance are no longer like other Chinese, but they are still maintaining their ancestor’s cultural practices, including their habit to pray to the God in Chinese Temples and also celebrating the Lunar New Year.
A day before the Lunar New Year, I visited three Chinese Temples that are considered as the oldest Chinese Temples in Tangerang. Among the three, Boen Tek Bio is considered to be the main temple, although it is not the oldest. As the main temple, Boen Tek Bio should stand on the best place, which usually face the ocean and be backed by a mountain. Boen Tek Bio, however, was not erected close to the beach or to the mountain. In this case, there is a temple that can be considered as the ocean while another can be considered as the mountain for Boen Tek Bio. The one that can be considered as the ocean is called Boen Hay Bio (the word “hay” can be translated as ocean) and the other temple called Boen San Bio reflects the mountain (the word “san” can be translated as mountain).
Boen Tek Bio, or now better known as Vihara Padumuttara, has been existed since 1771. It is said that the temple was built by workers who came directly from China, so the architecture of the temple reflects the architecture of China at that time. At the top of the temple, there are statues depicting water dragons.
Vihara Padumuttara is located in the middle of a traditional market known as Pasar Lama Tangerang, and close to Cisadane River. In the past, Pasar Lama was the centre of activities of the area.
Boen San Bio, which is also known as Vihara Nimmala, has been existed since 1689. The building, however, is a new one. The original temple is no longer existed. It has been renovated totally after its main altar was burned in the year 2000. At the backyard of the beautiful temple lays an old tomb which is known as Pasarean Mbah Raden Suryakencana, a Chinese style pavilion called Pendopo Pehcun, and the Dhammasala Room. At the top of the building, people cannot find the usual dragon statues, but phoenix statues instead.
Vihara Nimmala is located not too far from Vihara Padumuttara. It is the biggest temple among the three. Aside of that, the unique but pretty architecture of the temple make the temple as one of Tangerang’s places of interest.
Boen Hay Bio or Vihara Karunayala is located quite far from Vihara Nimmala and vihara Padumuttara. The smallest temple among the three has been existed for more than 300 years. It is said that at the first time, there was only a simple wooden house which was used to pray to the gods by the Chinese community in the area. Now, the wooden house has transformed into a temple. At the top of the building, there are dragon statues as also in other usual Chinese Temples. In addition of the dragons, there is a giant crab statue at the top of the main gate to the temple.
Udah pernah mengunjungi yang di TUban mas Chris? keren lho disana
Yang Tuban belum nih Jo. Katanya kelenteng tua juga ya?
Mudah-mudahan sekali waktu aku bisa mampir kesana.
namanya kwan si bio, ada kepitingnya juga diatas 😛
Memang kalau menurut cerita pengurus Kelenteng Boen Hay Bio, Kelenteng Tuban sempat ambil abu dari tempat abu kelenteng ini sebelum peresmiannya. Ternyata ikut pakai kepiting juga 🙂
Chris, gorgeously vivid shots and summary!
Thank you Judy. Your words always encourage me to shoot and write more 🙂
Thank you!
Your photography and writing are beautiful!
Thank you 🙂
Gonjreng banget. Gong Xi Gong Xi! Angpaunya mana nih:p
Memang gonjreng banget karena dominan merah 😀
Untuk angpaunya, kemarin sudah aku titipin lho, memangnya belum terima? 😛
Hahahhahaha:P
😀 😀 😀
mas cris mesti motret yang di medan loh. ada yang traditional banget katanya, tapi aku ketinggalan kemaren hehe
Wah bisa diagendakan buat kunjungan kesana tahun depan nih ya Mbak 🙂
Excellent shots!!!
Thank you, Rexlin
Lovely colourful photos, Chris. A very enjoyable article. Happy lunar new year to you, too. Blessings, dear friend.
Thanks Lizzie.
May the 2013 brings you joy and happiness 🙂
wonderful photograpt…
i can’t barely enjoyed the temple on site since i really don’t like the smell of burned out hio
Thanks Dedy.
Well, in that case, I hope that my pictures are able to give you a clear view about the temples 🙂
wah saya ketinggalan nih mengabadikan moment ini 😀 Harus nunggu tahun depan baru bisa jepret2 lagi hehe
Jadi harus masuk catatan untuk tahun depan ya Mas 🙂
Pasti itu 😀 Sebenarnya sudah ada temen yang ngajak hunting imlek jauh-jauh hari tapi kemaren saya kelupaan jadinya malah liburan di alam hehehe
Wah kebalikan nih sama aku. Semula rencana pengen ke alam, tapi karena hujan terus dan cuaca gak menentu, jadinya motretin kelenteng 🙂
nice photos mas!
Terimakasih 🙂
So very colorful and so well captured Chris! Blessings, Robyn
Thank you, Robyn. You are so kind.
Wow .. warnanya ngejreng ya mas, menarik sekali buat mata 🙂
di kmapungku sana juga ada satu klentheng mas, tapi aku belum pernah masuk ke sana 🙂
Maksud Mbak Ely di Kudus? Itu kelenteng yang lokasinya gak jauh dari Menara Kudus ya Mbak?
Serba merahhhh..
Iya merah, melambangkan kebahagiaan dan keberuntungan soalnya 🙂
Hallo,
This is for you, for being kind to others and me : )
Pick it up here if you want to http://summer4soul.wordpress.com/2013/02/14/valentines-day-this-is-for-you-because-you-are-love/
Sweet greetings, Summer
Thank you, Summer. You are so sweet.
Seperti biasa mas. Lengkap kap kap penjelasannya. hehehehehe. Two thumbs up 🙂
Terimakasih, Mas. Ini jauh dari lengkap koq. Kalau ditulis lengkap malah orang-orang pada bosen karena kepanjangan 😛
a very beautiful serie of photos ^ – ^ so warm and colorful, the atmosphere was taken into the photos well , too ! ^ – ^ Thank you for all of your help and nice comments to me in the previous year, may you and your family have a peaceful , happy and lucky journey in the new coming-365-days !
Thank you, Yin.
I also wish you and your family a happy, bright and prosperous days in the year of the snake 🙂
Thanks so much , Chris13jkt ! ^ – ^ , I’m a snake, you know, people said that when your year come, it may bring some bad luck !
Well, what I heard is the opposite of what you heard, Yin. When your year come, then you’ll get a big chance to gain some great luck :). So, just be optimistic, I believe you’ll have many good luck this year.
Ciao ….foto bellissime e meravigliosi colori!!!
Pan
Thank you, Pandora 🙂
mantaaap….
asli kena merahnya
Jadi tambah ceria ya . . . 🙂