C'EST EID!
i’m back in my hometown… yup, the ever-peaceful-except-for-during-festive-season ipoh… all geared up to celebrate raya with my family. have been helping out with the raya preparation… performed my annual routine of chauffering my mom to the wet market near our house to get our supply of poultry and meat for the hari raya this morning (ok, i didn’t want to say this, but i just had to – the guy who worked at the poultry stall was so cute! meletup habis! i nearly ordered extra chickens just to continue watching him at work… eheh)
so anyway, looks like raya this year will be just like how it has been the past couple of years… maybe i can just provide a gist of what would happen in my family on the first day of raya:
1. we would all wake up late (with the exception of my parents) and my dad would get pissed off
2.having woken up late, we would all be rushing to get our turns to use the bathroom (everyone would BEG for my second sister to go last cos she takes ages to take her shower)
3. we’d be having breakfast… in a hurry
4. we’d have the salam-salam and the mintak maaf-mintak maaf bit right before we go off to the masjid (last year, my sister’s indonesian maid wept when we did this (she must have missed her family so much… kesian betul. i think i would have wept too if i was in her place)
5. i would forget to bring money for derma at the masjid and i would remind myself not to forget to do so for next raya (this happens almost EVERY year!)
6. after prayers, we’d go to one of my auntie’s house (it’s a family tradition - my dad’s side would visit a few houses in one big group. our house is always second on the list) we would not be hanging around there for long because we need to get ready cos our house would be attacked next
7. once we reach home, we would frantically get things ready for the guests. mind you, my dad has 20+ brothers and sisters (my grandpa had 2 wives) and most of my uncles and aunties are very ‘productive’ (READ: each one of them has a gazillion kids)
8. my mom would somehow assign me to be in-charge of drinks
9. i, in return would then scorn at the fact that my other brothers are not expected to help out in the kitchen - it seems like every year, they somehow get to be in the ‘reception committee’ and i would be eternally be in the ‘food and drinks committee’
10. sometime in between making the drinks, i would give out green packets to my younger cousins and relatives (whose names mostly i don’t even remember)
11. i would then do a little bit of mingling around… mostly with my male cousins and relatives (had to la… it would be too weird to join the female crowd). they would talk about guy stuff (cars, football) and i would pretend to be interested and engaged in the discussion
12.after a while, the group would decide to leave for my uncle’s house. i would get a great sense of relief the minute that happens
13. i would help with the clean-up. again, i would scorn at the fact that none of my brothers are required to help out except for me.
14. we will then join the group to attack the other houses. by the end of the day, i would have gained at least two kilos.. sometimes three (no kidding).
nevertheless, in spite of the disgruntlement and the abrupt change in weight (which will definitely leave me in a state of remorse and regret after raya is over), i still look forward to raya every year. it’s the only time of the year when you don’t need to feel shy to ask for someone’s forgiveness.. and it’s also the time when everyone is happy - and you’d somehow get to see the best in people when they are happy… and that’s nice.
have a wonderful raya everyone!
so anyway, looks like raya this year will be just like how it has been the past couple of years… maybe i can just provide a gist of what would happen in my family on the first day of raya:
1. we would all wake up late (with the exception of my parents) and my dad would get pissed off
2.having woken up late, we would all be rushing to get our turns to use the bathroom (everyone would BEG for my second sister to go last cos she takes ages to take her shower)
3. we’d be having breakfast… in a hurry
4. we’d have the salam-salam and the mintak maaf-mintak maaf bit right before we go off to the masjid (last year, my sister’s indonesian maid wept when we did this (she must have missed her family so much… kesian betul. i think i would have wept too if i was in her place)
5. i would forget to bring money for derma at the masjid and i would remind myself not to forget to do so for next raya (this happens almost EVERY year!)
6. after prayers, we’d go to one of my auntie’s house (it’s a family tradition - my dad’s side would visit a few houses in one big group. our house is always second on the list) we would not be hanging around there for long because we need to get ready cos our house would be attacked next
7. once we reach home, we would frantically get things ready for the guests. mind you, my dad has 20+ brothers and sisters (my grandpa had 2 wives) and most of my uncles and aunties are very ‘productive’ (READ: each one of them has a gazillion kids)
8. my mom would somehow assign me to be in-charge of drinks
9. i, in return would then scorn at the fact that my other brothers are not expected to help out in the kitchen - it seems like every year, they somehow get to be in the ‘reception committee’ and i would be eternally be in the ‘food and drinks committee’
10. sometime in between making the drinks, i would give out green packets to my younger cousins and relatives (whose names mostly i don’t even remember)
11. i would then do a little bit of mingling around… mostly with my male cousins and relatives (had to la… it would be too weird to join the female crowd). they would talk about guy stuff (cars, football) and i would pretend to be interested and engaged in the discussion
12.after a while, the group would decide to leave for my uncle’s house. i would get a great sense of relief the minute that happens
13. i would help with the clean-up. again, i would scorn at the fact that none of my brothers are required to help out except for me.
14. we will then join the group to attack the other houses. by the end of the day, i would have gained at least two kilos.. sometimes three (no kidding).
nevertheless, in spite of the disgruntlement and the abrupt change in weight (which will definitely leave me in a state of remorse and regret after raya is over), i still look forward to raya every year. it’s the only time of the year when you don’t need to feel shy to ask for someone’s forgiveness.. and it’s also the time when everyone is happy - and you’d somehow get to see the best in people when they are happy… and that’s nice.
have a wonderful raya everyone!
posted by aiskrem_potong at
9:36 PM
1 Comments:
SO NICE to have such a lovely family gathering on festive days. It is so different at my place, mine is all commercialised, with fixed-time for open house, caterers, paper plates and guess what --- rendang, mee siam, roti jala, and curry chicken on CNY!
My friends always ask me whether I am having CNY or Hari Raya, as I always have Malay food... urrrgghhh!
By
Mr RM, at November 08, 2005 5:24 AM
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