The real story
Mudik comes from 'udik', village or upstream: going home to where you came from. In the days before Eid al-Fitr, workers who moved to the cities head back to their hometowns to ask forgiveness from parents and elders. Indonesia's transport ministry counted about 155 million people travelling during the 2025 Lebaran season, by bus, train, ferry, plane and millions of motorbikes.
The trips can be brutal: in 2016 a jam at the new Brebes toll exit in Central Java, nicknamed 'Brexit', trapped travellers for days. That's why the cardboard box tied with raffia string is a national icon. It's cheap, stackable, easy to carry, and usually packed with gifts, cookies and clothes for the family waiting at the end of the road.
