(a) A time my family celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri...
On the first day of Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Muslims go to the mosque early in the morning to conduct their "Hari Raya Prayers". I remember quite vividly a time when I went to the mosque with my father to do the prayers on Hari Raya morning that particular year. After praying, among many others, led by the Imam (the leader), he will then give a "khutbah", which is a short sermon. Following that, as my father drove me home from the mosque, he explained to me the importance of this day in Islam and told me the history behind it. It was a one memorable experience as it was my first time going to the mosque on Hari Raya to conduct the prayers among others. I was glad as I could finally understand the true meaning behind our Hari Raya celebration.
Upon reaching home, I had a whiff of the wonderful aroma of my mother's special dishes. My two sisters and brother were eagerly gathered around the table awaiting our return. It is a form of respect where we wait for all family members to be present before we start our meal. However, following tradition, we first exchange dishes with our neighbours.
After getting dressed in our best traditional clothing, we then proceed to our grandmothers’ and great grandfather’s houses. It is in our culture and tradition that we visit the eldest generation in our family as a gesture of respect. We have a great family gathering with all our relatives; aunts, uncles, cousins, and everyone brought over their own dishes to be shared. We merrily eat and joke with one another. This gathering helps to foster a closer bond among the relatives and having a more rewarding relationship with one another. For me, it helps me understand my family and relatives better, especially my cousins whom all shared their own personal experiences and made the day enjoyable. We visit till night dawned on us.
This Hari Raya experience really made me learnt many things, be it about my own culture, tradition and roots and also fostering better relationship. It helps inculcate in me different values and I am thankful to have such a wonderful family.
(b) The difference between Jess's family during a festival and my own's
During Hari Raya, I celebrated the joyous festival with my family happily until late at night. We are able to foster a closer bond and to have good relationship with our family. We try our best not to spoil the joyous mood.
Unlike us, Jess and his family celebrated Christmas in a different way. Early in the morning, they had an enjoyable time unwrapping their gifts. However, Jess felt that the present was useless, but he did not show his disappointment and instead expressed his thanks to his father. On the other hand, when the same realization dawned on the father, the father got annoyed at the toy that he gave to Jess and kicked the floor violently. Then, Jess’s sisters both were not happy with the gifts that they received from one another. This portrays their selfishness and ingratitude. That was how their celebration ended; they instead got on with their mundane daily routine-Jess was asked to milk the cow.
Muhd Syafiq (38)
2e7
i'm just your typical forteen year old boy. adolescent, dealing with growing pains just as any other normal human teenager would. except what sets me apart is that i go by the name of
glen and i am the supposed owner of this forsaken web page. i'm odd in the way that i have very frequent moodswings and i argue a lot with everyone - including my best friend,
who's well, pretty much non-existant. so i guess i'm your typical, not-so-typical guy.
i'm just who i am. metro, a SNAG and the oh-so-annoying bitch. lazy, cranky, irritable and irritating in every way. just living out my life as normal as i possibly can. with friends that can hurt me to the core and enemies that surprise me. it's no wonder i keep this blog.
