Chinese New Year Celebration at Satya Dharma Temple

The Chinese Indonesians celebrated Chinese New Year 2575 Kongzili on Feb. 10 at Satya Dharma Temple, Benoa, Bali. The Chinese Indonesians who mostly go to the Chinese temple are Buddhist and Confucian. As the location of this temple is near the airport, tourists worldwide visit this temple to watch and experience the Chinese New Year Celebration.

Satya Dharma Temple is the largest Chinese temple in Bali. This temple applies a Tridharma teaching–three teachings of Chinese folk religion, including Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhism. Tridharma means the temple serves as a place of prayer for those three religions. 

Each Chinese temple or kongco has its own cheng beng or main deity. The cheng beng in Satya Dharma Temple is Nacha. As you go deeper into the temple, you will see the Tridharma altar, which includes an altar for Taoism, Confucianism, and Buddhist deities statues or rupang inside the building. This kongco also provides an altar for Kwan Im.

The Chinese Indonesians would visit the kongco to pray as part of the Chinese New Year celebration. Burning incense sticks or hio is one of the mediums they use in their prayer. The colour of the hio is red. Before you pray to the deities, you should burn the hio. There are lots of red candles of various sizes available inside the kongco. The candles are all used as a medium to burn the hio.

Other than hio, there are offerings or sajen like food and fruit. Interestingly, each deity has some restrictions on the offerings. E.g. the offering for Thian Kong does not include meats as Thian Kong is a vegetarian.

As part of the celebration, the whole area of Satya Dharma Temple is decorated with Chinese New Year’s decorations, including paper lanterns, candles, and hio as a symbol of illumination. This kongco is not only visited by Chinese Indonesians but also by foreign and local tourists to pray.