Raya
It's 4 days to Eid il Fitr, or as we say in Malaysia - Hari Raya Aidilfitri (easier to pronounce in my honest opinion). 4 more days to holiday, yay!
I took a week off, as I haven't taken any long leave at all this year, no vacations, nothing. It sucked that I had to use up my annual leave for this. For Chinese New Year the company gave a week off to all employees. I shoulda gone for a vacation then but didn't have the moolah for it.
Unlike previous celebrations (previous being all those years ago when I was still a child / teenager), Hari Raya as an adult is nothing to shout about. Not only I am on the giving end of duit raya (angpows with money), my grandmum is also no longer around to celebrate. The celebrations for adults somehow felt more muted, and less of a celebration.
I haven't gone back to my father's hometown for years to celebrate. Usually what happened was, the night before raya we go off to dad's hometown and celebrate 1st and 2nd day there. Then we drive up to Penang on the 2nd day itself and spend a few more days there. It was fantastic.
Now that I'm married I spend the first day of raya with my hubby at my parents house, then his father's house, then we go to his paternal grandmother's house then we go to his relatives house on his mother's side. It's not much fun celebrating in Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes we go to open houses of friends between the first to the third day of raya, depends who's in town and having one. Otherwise, things are pretty boring.
The boredom is to the extent of us going for karaoke, clubs and movies during the first couple of days of raya. But this year that ain't happening, I didn't plan to fast for almost an entire month to then go party my soul out at the very first opportunity.
I was hoping however to be able to visit my grandmother's grave this raya as I did not have the chance to last year. But things are not meant to be, Mum again is not going back to her hometown. The reason is because she had to help my sister pack for uni.
Speaking of my sister, she's flying off on the 19th to London. So this means this will be the last raya before she goes off to uni for 3 years. It's also possible that she won't be able to come home for raya in the next 3 years. I feel a bit choked up just typing that.
Anyway, because raya is generally quite boring the older I get, I don't even bother to get new baju raya. Last year I managed to buy ONE. And this year, I got myself none, mainly because I don't want to spend any money on items I don't even have the space to store. So what I did was shop at my mum's closet. If I like vintage stuff so much, I wouldn't mind vintage baju raya innit? So I got her baju kurungs and kebayas from the 80s and early 90s. Even managed to get one piece of kebaya kain made from batik belonging to my late grandmother, which is from the 1960s/ 1970s. And the best part is, they are all in great condition, even better that the vintage outfits I bought from all those blogshops.
3 more days!! Yes, I started writing this piece yesterday during work and then my computer crashed and then I had work to do so I totally forgot to finish this piece. 3 more days til raya!
I took a week off, as I haven't taken any long leave at all this year, no vacations, nothing. It sucked that I had to use up my annual leave for this. For Chinese New Year the company gave a week off to all employees. I shoulda gone for a vacation then but didn't have the moolah for it.
Unlike previous celebrations (previous being all those years ago when I was still a child / teenager), Hari Raya as an adult is nothing to shout about. Not only I am on the giving end of duit raya (angpows with money), my grandmum is also no longer around to celebrate. The celebrations for adults somehow felt more muted, and less of a celebration.
I haven't gone back to my father's hometown for years to celebrate. Usually what happened was, the night before raya we go off to dad's hometown and celebrate 1st and 2nd day there. Then we drive up to Penang on the 2nd day itself and spend a few more days there. It was fantastic.
Now that I'm married I spend the first day of raya with my hubby at my parents house, then his father's house, then we go to his paternal grandmother's house then we go to his relatives house on his mother's side. It's not much fun celebrating in Kuala Lumpur. Sometimes we go to open houses of friends between the first to the third day of raya, depends who's in town and having one. Otherwise, things are pretty boring.
The boredom is to the extent of us going for karaoke, clubs and movies during the first couple of days of raya. But this year that ain't happening, I didn't plan to fast for almost an entire month to then go party my soul out at the very first opportunity.
I was hoping however to be able to visit my grandmother's grave this raya as I did not have the chance to last year. But things are not meant to be, Mum again is not going back to her hometown. The reason is because she had to help my sister pack for uni.
Speaking of my sister, she's flying off on the 19th to London. So this means this will be the last raya before she goes off to uni for 3 years. It's also possible that she won't be able to come home for raya in the next 3 years. I feel a bit choked up just typing that.
Anyway, because raya is generally quite boring the older I get, I don't even bother to get new baju raya. Last year I managed to buy ONE. And this year, I got myself none, mainly because I don't want to spend any money on items I don't even have the space to store. So what I did was shop at my mum's closet. If I like vintage stuff so much, I wouldn't mind vintage baju raya innit? So I got her baju kurungs and kebayas from the 80s and early 90s. Even managed to get one piece of kebaya kain made from batik belonging to my late grandmother, which is from the 1960s/ 1970s. And the best part is, they are all in great condition, even better that the vintage outfits I bought from all those blogshops.
3 more days!! Yes, I started writing this piece yesterday during work and then my computer crashed and then I had work to do so I totally forgot to finish this piece. 3 more days til raya!
Comments
Post a Comment