Selamat Datang - Welcome once again to Doses of Malaysian Stories. Hi, I’m Deanna, a local Malaysian Tour Guide and the host of this podcast.
Today my story is about the recent celebrations for the Muslims -The Eid Mubarak or locally Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Fitri, the festiva marking the conclusion fasting during the holy month of Ramadhan for Muslims. Malays, forms the largest Muslim community in Malaysia, approximately 63% of our population of 32million. During pre-pandemic times, the yearly Raya Celebrations will see an exodus of Malaysians (Muslims and non-Muslims) taking the 2 days public holidays travelling back to their home towns to be with their families. Buses, trains, flights will usually be taken up at least 3-4 months ahead.
It is an absolute must to plan ahead to avoid disappointments. Highways will be heavy with traffic, and police will be deployed to help control this mass exodus. Cities like Kuala Lumpur- will be unusually quiet and deserted during this time. Small towns will instead be congested. We would greet our Muslim friends “Selamat Hari Raya” This year 2021, the usual get together did not happen as gatherings were not permitted due to the recent spike in cases. it will be a celebrated in a much quieter manner. .
I have with me today, Ms Shuhana, my fellow Tour Guide who is already semi retired. She will share with us her thoughts on this year’s celebrations and the popular food that is usually served during this time of the year. 2021 celebrations may not be as happening as the years before the pandemic, nevertheless food is still a very much sought-after affair for Malaysians. She will touched on the popular ones that are usually served during this time :like Rendang - a sort of dry curry. Ketupat- a pouch like compressed rice wrapped in young coconut leaves and also Lemang- glutinous rice wrapped in banana leaves cooked inside hollow bamboo shoots.
Ms Shuhana also touches on the tradition of asking for forgiveness (Maaf Zahir Batin- words that are often reflected in greeting cards) from the elders during this special time of the year, a tradition that is indeed meaningful. We also touched on the subject of Duit Raya ( Festival Money), tokens of blessings given to children, which could probably be an influence from the Chinese community who practices gifting from the married to the singles in red packets which is called äng pow" locally. This is the beauty of multi-cultural Malaysia where some customs or traditions and food were adopted by different communities within this melting pot of cultural assimilation.
That was indeed a good catching up session that I had with Shuhana.
I wonder if you could pick up some unique Malaysian slang during my interview? Ms Shuhana, punctuated her speech with a lot of this phrase “lah” – no lah… it was fun lah . Yeah these are some of the examples of Manglish- the Malaysian lingo that I mentioned in my first episode. Looking forward to share the Malaysian lingo – Manglish in my next episode.
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Thank you for taking the time out to hang out with me and I shall look forward to see you in my next episode. Selamat Tinggal !! Bye !!