talk about any festivities and family traditions come to mind. from dishes served to putting on a special piece of jewellery passed down from generations. festive seasons are also an opportunity to catch up with uncles, aunties and cousins that we otherwise would not have been able to meet at other times of the year. we look forward to hari raya for this exact reason - it is a chance to meet extended family members under one roof.
our raya celebrations and family interactions evolved as we grew older. as kids, we looked forward to seeing cousins and collecting duit raya (green packets). as young adults, we still looked forward to collecting duit raya but this time having to endure odd questions like, “are you still studying?” as a means to justify that we did indeed still deserve duit raya. and as adults, comes the phase where family interactions felt like a press conference questioning your entire life choices - “when are you getting married?”, “when are you having children?”, “when are you planning for your second child?”, “where do you work and how much do you earn?”, “where did you buy your sofa and how much was it?”. ahh the joys of hari raya...
nevertheless, hari raya is a time for joy, for us to appreciate having our loved ones around and to celebrate our efforts in ramadhan. for two years now, we have been celebrating raya in extraordinary times - by meeting family members virtually and by getting creative with our expressions of gratitude and love, such as delivering food or gift baskets, to those we cannot meet in person. extraordinary times like these certainly make us appreciate the special people in our lives even more.
in ‘normal’ times, a typical raya weekend involves us visiting relatives and planning other social raya events but this year, it will be just me, my little family and LILIN. and you know what, it is not such a bad raya after all.
Nur
*the dish in the picture above is called ayam sapit, a dish that i cook every raya. recipe from my late great-grandmother.
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