Hari Raya Celebration

Yesterday and the day before, Angela and I balik kampung'd (went back home) with some friends. They invited us to come to their home town to celebrate Hari Raya - celebrating the month of fasting being over. We were excited about the opportunity to hang out with them, but also learn more about what happens during the celebration.

We waited until last minute to buy our clothes, but we were happy with what we found. Typically, a family will all wear the same color, so we picked gold and maroon. The traditional dress costs anywhere from $10US to $100US. We chose to get something in the middle. They are made of a silk like material, usually with flower patterns (yep, even for the guys).

Angela bought what is called a baju kebaya, which is a bit more formal. Matt's is simply called a baju Melayu with a sampin (sarong-like, but shorter).

We got dressed and stopped by our neighbors before we left (as per their request to see us), and they quickly invited us to enjoy breakfast with them. So, we left a bit late, but that's not so important.

We drove through a bit of traffic, past many broken down cars (yeah for Malaysian made cars), and finally arrived at the kampung (village). It was not like the city - it was quiet... well, other than 10 year olds riding motorbikes down the road way too fast.

The Street--------------------------Our Car in Front of Their House

We had a great time meeting the family of our friends. We were really hoping the food would be edible, and it was more than that - everything we ate was good, even the fish! We had a good time and got to meet a lot of people.

One interesting tradition they have is where a group of people go house to house, singing a bit and saying hi to the hosts. To get through the entire village can take all day, depending on the size of the village and how long they stay at each place. This tradition is actually a Javanese (Indonesian) tradition. This village has descendants from Java, so they keep this tradition. The host always has a bunch of snacks in jars, and the people sit around either on the floor or on chairs and chit chat for about 30 minutes.

At night, we went to see a home made fireworks. Basically, they mix some chemicals and make a very large "bang". It was neat, but a few bangs was enough for us...

We had a great time, and enjoyed getting to learn more about their culture as well as build friendships with more people.

Also, while we were there, we learned a new song/game. It goes, "Telur telur pecas sebiji..." which means "The eggs break one at a time..." What do you think?