This is the first of seven articles on Hari Raya and Malay Culture appearing in the July/August 2014 issue of PASSAGE, the magazine of the Friends of the Museum (FOM).
Hari Raya Aidilfitri (or Hari Raya Puasa) is often thought to be the Muslim New Year. It is actually an important Muslim festival that marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan. Puasa in the Malay language means ‘fast’ or ‘fasting’.
Therefore, the appropriate greeting should not be “Happy New Year” but “Selamat Hari Raya”, “Eid Mubarak” or even “Happy Hari Raya”. Eid Mubarak is an Arabic greeting and also means ‘blessed celebration’.
Hari Raya Aidilfitri is the culmination of a month of physical and spiritual discipline. It falls on the first day of Syawal and marks the end of the fasting month of Ramadan, considered a holy month because Muslims believe the Qu’ran was first revealed during Ramadan. Besides refraining from food and drink, Muslims are expected to refrain from evil thoughts, desires and words and give alms (zakat). They are encouraged to perform good deeds and acts of charity, attend special prayers (tarawih) and read the Qu’ran. The tarawih prayers are held throughout the month in mosques, homes and even in the void decks of HDB apartment buildings.
After the Fast Comes the Celebration
Hari Raya Aidilfitri begins when the new moon is sighted.
In the old days, people waited for news of the sighting, but today Singapore’s Muslim authorities calculate it so that the day can be predicted in advance.
On the first day of Syawal, the mosques are filled with worshippers attending the special Hari Raya prayers. Men, women and children throughout Singapore are dressed in their best. Once the prayers are over, the worshippers will greet each other with “Selamat Hari Raya! Maaf zahir batin!” while clasping hands and giving hugs.
Looking out for the moon. Gouache illustration by Mimi Shamsuddin
The family, tradition and forgiveness are very important aspects of Hari Raya. A unique feature for those celebrating in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and Brunei is to seek forgiveness for past misdeeds.
The phrase ‘maaf zahir dan batin’ is uttered by family and friends. It means ‘I seek forgiveness from you [within and without]’ and serves as an opportunity to reconcile past differences, address actual grievances, seek a brand new beginning and receive not only forgiveness, but also blessings from elders. For some families this can be an emotional part of Hari Raya.
Some Muslims visit the cemetery after the prayers, armed with flowers to strew over the graves. They recite verses from the Qu’ran and offer blessings in remembrance of departed loved ones. However, a visit to the cemetery is not compulsory on Hari Raya morning and can be done any day of the year. After the visit, they go home to a special breakfast of festive food and either await the arrival of family members or visit their relatives.
Festive Dishes & Cookies
Foods such as ketupat, rendang, lemang, sambal goreng pengantin, serunding and ayam masak merah are special because they are traditionally made for Hari Raya. As they require much time and effort to make, whole families, including the men, come together.
When I was in elementary school, my father, grand-aunt and I used to make the ketupat cases from young coconut leaves. My male cousins would spend a minimum of four hours boiling the ketupat in a large pot over a charcoal fire, the day before Hari Raya.
For some dishes, ingredients can be prepared in advance. These include cutting the dried chilli into very thin strips using a pair of scissors for the sambal goreng pengantin and dry frying and pounding the grated coconut to make kerisik for the beef rendang. When I was in high school it was my job to make the kerisik a week before Hari Raya.
Ketupat. Gouache illustration by Mimi Shamsuddin
Baking Hari Raya cookies is generally a family affair with everyone pitching in. In a large extended family, a family may specialise in one or a few types of cookies. The family will bake extra cookies for exchanging with another family. In this way, families get to bond with each other and traditions are created when they teach each other or hand down family recipes.
Dressing Up for Hari Raya
Clothes worn during Hari Raya emphasise tradition, heritage and family. Malay families take great pride in wearing traditional Malay dress albeit with modifications during Hari Raya. The women wear baju kurung or baju kebaya while the men will don the baju Melayu complete with songket samping (waist cloth) and songkok (brimless cap). As there are no taboos when it comes to colours, many Malays dress in rainbow hues.
Dressing up for Hari Raya. Gouache illustration by Mimi Shamsuddin
During Hari Raya, you will see families all dressed in the same colour when they are out visiting. This is a fairly recent phenomenon, but it publicly demonstrates how important the family is and how proud they are to display their spirit of unity. Boutiques and stalls at the Geylang Serai Market or the Geylang Serai Ramadan Bazaar will prepare colour-coordinated clothes for the whole family.
I know a family who dressed in pink because it was the young daughter’s favourite colour. The mother confessed that pink was not her favourite colour, but she was donning it to please her daughter.
Children
During Hari Raya, families become the key focus, especially the children. They are trained to fast from young, beginning with just a few hours of fasting when they are little, stretching to half a day, then fasting for the whole day when they are fully mature. They are also encouraged to wake up early to eat the pre-dawn meal with the family.
Children who fast during Ramadan develop a deeper sense of belonging to their family and the wider Muslim community. There is a sense of accomplishment when they learn to fast during Ramadan, attend the tarawih prayers and empathise with the less fortunate.
Besides the religious aspects of the festival, they may have assisted in the preparations for the festival by baking Hari Raya cookies and decorating the house. In this way, the rich cultural traditions of preparing and celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri in a Malay family are continued into the next generation.
Dahlia Shamsuddin is a librarian and the immediate past- president of the Singapore Heritage Society. She takes great pride in making her own pineapple tarts from scratch every year.
Mimi Shamsuddin is a a part-time lecturer in graphic art at LASALLE College of the Arts.
Leave a Reply