My family in Raya Day

Written by Heryanti Kaman

Hari Raya Aidilfitri (or Hari Raya Puasa, which means "Celebration Day of Fasting") is the Malay coinage for the Muslim festival of Eid ul-Fitr (Ramadan Festival). All Muslims in this Malaysia would celebrate Eid ul-Fitr similar to the remaining Muslims all over the world. Typically on the day of the festivities, My family members, particularly the women, are seen quite occupied with cooking food, cakes, sweets, biscuits and several other delicacies to be used on the day of Hari Raya. Sumptuous and delicacies like ketupat or rice cake and a meat preparation termed rendang are some of the quite popular food items that are eaten on the festive occasion
Oil lamps known as the pelita or the sometimes we use canddle can be seen many days before the festival on my house compounds, more so in the country areas. This is seen most notably on the 27th night of Ramadan. During the morning time, My family members, particularly the men go for an Eid prayer and wear their traditional dresses. Men put on the ‘baju melayu’ and the women wear the ‘baju urung’,’Kebaya’ and the ‘Kebarung. Other customary wear include the songket and the batik. This also provides them the opportunity to meet each other and exchange Hari Raya festival pleasantries. Generally, as soon as the prayers are finished, we visit the graves of our beloved deceased, to pay their tributes. During this part, the graves are tidied and adorned with flowers, with recitals from the Holy Quran.
The remainder of the day of the Hari Raya festival is a holiday, and is utilized for meeting up and calling on relatives and loved ones. Duit Raya is a nominal sum of money that children get from adults on this day. It being a very joyous occasion, children get some money along with the sweet delicacies but for this year I cannot return to my Village because don’t have enough money to buy aircraft ticket