New Year

So what? Just another day? Just some silly people raving about where to spend the night before that day? Just some noises made by the fireworks and paper trumpets?

Not for me. Not for my family. At least, it used to be something special for the six of us: Bapak, Mama, me, and my three siblings. I really feel like an old lady for missing those good old days. The days when we did our ritual faithfully on every new year's eve.

We would go to the church for a new year's eve service. Yes, we have a new year's eve service at the church. The church. The church is the church my father used to attend before he met my mother. The church is the church where my father married my mother. The church is the church where I and all my siblings were baptized as infants, where my father was ordained as an elder, where I and my siblings has affirmed our faith and received our first communion, where the funeral service on behalf of my father was held. That church. The church.

We would go home and prepare for our family worship, around midnight. My father would lead the worship, all those old songs, almost all in Batakese, a language my parents used to speak to each other. We would read the Bible, give thanks for the past year and pray for the coming year. We would then have our says, that "mandok hata" tradition. Well, I used to hate it when I was very young. This was how it worked. Starting from the youngest, one would go to the next older person, hold his/her hand, apologize for all the wrongs done during the last year --sometimes vaguely, but we loved to make it very specific, many times extremely specific since the six of us tend to remember so many things very well-- and thank him/her for all nice things. And go on to the next older one. It could last for hours, depending on how melancholic you could be. It could also last only for a couple of minutes, when some other families joined in the ritual.

Then we would have our feast. Eat, eat, eat, until we fell asleep.

Does not sound very special? Yeah, when I read it again, it does not sound that special. But I keep it dear to my heart, and it makes them extremely special. Ah, the good old days.

I am looking forward to some good new days.

Happy new year.

And if any of you reading this would like to do me a favour, pray for me and my coming exams, will you? I can feel my body shivers and my heart beats faster everytime I remember them. Anyways, I am planning to make this year a happy one indeed, no matter what is coming my way.

*cv4 7es, 01-01-11*