My Eid Experience

A multiracial country like Malaysia with a myriad of races, religions and cultures celebrates a wide array of festivals. The Malays, the most dominant race in Malaysia, celebrate Hari Raya Puasa (Eid), a festival honoured by the Muslims worldwide marking the end of Ramadan, the fasting month. This year, the celebration is expected to be more spectacular and exciting. Although I am a Chinese and not celebrating Hari Raya, I somehow experience the celebration. Do you want to know how my eid experience was like?

On the first day of Hari Raya, I went back to Beaufort, Sabah to visit my family. I took a plane from Low Cost Career Terminal (LCCT) in Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) to Kota Kinabalu International Airport (KKIA) Terminal 2. When the plane finally landed in the airport, it was at night and it was raining cats and dogs. After claiming my luggage, I went to the terminal building to meet my family as they were waiting there for me. I was as happy as a lark. It had been a long time since I last met them. Then, we went back to Beaufort by my father’s car. On the way home, I saw many Malays’ houses beautifully decorated with colourful light bulbs. The houses were transformed into a sea of colour as the colourful light bulbs were twinkling repeatedly. Ignited oil lamps were also placed around the houses. The Malays think that oil lamps can make their Hari Raya celebration more hilarious. I also saw Malay children running and playing firecracker along the road. After about 2 hours, we finally reached our home. I really missed a lot of things at home. As saying goes, “no place feels like home”.

It was the second day of Hari Raya. After getting a good night’s sleep, I got a call from my Malay ex-classmate and he invited me to his house. At his house, I not only met my Malay friends, but also all my Chinese and Kadazan friends. All my Malay friends were dressed neatly with Malay traditional attire. My female friends wore baju kurung while my male friends wore baju melayu with a songkok or cap on their head. Various kinds of food were served on the table. They were Malay traditional food like lemang, pulut, ketupat, and kari ayam. My favourite food was the mouth-watering rendang. After having heavy meals, I had cookies and desserts with juice. Kuih lapis, the colourful layer cake was my favourite dessert. While we were eating cookies and desserts, we were also chit-chatting about where we study after our separation in secondary school. Some of my friends are currently studying in prestigious Malaysian colleges and universities while others further their study in government matriculation and Form 6. Finally, I got myself a green packet or known as duit raya from the old folks. Then, I bid farewell to all my friends and hoped that we will meet again some other time.

On the following day of Hari Raya, I still went to many other opening houses. With this, the Hari Raya celebration came to an end. It was indeed an exciting moment for me to be able to experience such a dazzling celebration. I will certainly never forget this wonderful experience.