Taking a Walk in The Late Afternoon

The Indonesian have a habit that they do in the late afternoon.They take a walk around their neighborhood right before sunset. This is not just taking a walk. in this taking a walk they meet and greet their neighbor. they do it right before sunset because the cooler weather only happened early in the morning and late in the afternoon.

This habit was done almost in all society, but nowadays only people who live in the village or small town do this habit. People in the city do not do this habit anymore, the working hour in the city and the far distance between their house and their working place make them arrive home late at night. Most people in the village are not formal workers, or if they are formal workers, their working hours usually start from 7 in the morning to 2 in the afternoon. So they have free time in the late afternoon, and it is the time they see what is going on in their neighborhood.

They meet their neighbor when they stroll along their neighborhood or in a public area, such as park. this is like an informal meeting, and since it is informal, they can meet different person everyday. they talk about anything, but generally they talk about their neighborhood condition, or news around their living place,and in this society the people always ready to help others if there is something happened to their neighborhood.

This gathering is always fun and free, for example in a small town in east java, people usually taking a walk in the late afternoon. they usually stroll in a park near their house. They usually take a walk with their children. the children usually play in the playground and their parents  talk about their neighbourhood. At the time before azan is call out the go home and preparing their praying. Besides preparing for their praying people in the village have a belief that they are better stay at home when the sun sets.