Whenever my informant’s Indonesian family members would visit, her mom would watch candle dancing with them. When asked about what a candle dance is, she replied that it is a graceful Indonesian dance where they would hold candles and it is a ritual they would do together whenever they met up.

She says that she herself had never seen a candle dance, but her mom would talk about it and how she thought it was the most beautiful thing growing up, and that her mom always looked forward to watching the dances.

This ritual appears to be something nostalgic and done more to remember and connect with an identity rather than something religious.