Mudik in Indonesia

The tradition of mudik or home for the holidays is found in many countries. Why is this tradition so strong in certain societies? Does it still have a place in today’s world?

Mudik is an Indonesian term used to describe when someone who lives away from home is coming home for the holidays. This tradition is often seen during great holidays, such as Christmas and Eid-ul-Fitr. In Indonesia, for example, as many as 30 million people go mudik on Eid-ul-Fitr in 2011. Most people do mudik activity because they want to reunite with their families after being away for working or studying for a long time.

Some societies think that mudik is a sacred tradition, because they usually only do that once a year on the great holidays. At that time, they feel that they need to see their family members and strengthen the relationship with them by spending time together. Moreover, those holidays are very essential in both culture and religion matters, and therefore, people are willing to go for a long distance trip home to celebrate them.

Many people living far away from home in big cities do not only do mudik as a tradition, but also as a reason to run away from urban life and to feel again the atmosphere of the home where their childhood memories be. For instance, the stress I had brought from the urban city suddenly disappeared when I ate my mother’s cooking that I always missed.

Nowadays, the number of people go mudik is increasing over time. One of the reasons is the increasing level of income, so more people can afford to buy travel tickets or even drive their own private vehicles as transport means. An aim they have which is to be back again with their families. They will go through any constrains only to feel again their home sweet home atmosphere.