Yeay!!!! Raya! "Dam Dam Doom bunyi mercun...kanak kanak berduyun duyun..." or so went the lyrics of nostalgic raya songs of the good old days.
I don't think you can hear this particular song on the radiowaves anymore as firecrackers were banned in Malaysia during all festive seasons. But there were many great raya songs which could trigger your nostalgic raya mood along with the memories of raya.
Raya as a child in Kampong Gita, and I imagine everywhere else, was not just the one day or week after fasting month. It stretched from the eve of ramadan, througout ramadan to the eve of raya and culminating on the week of raya.
My early memories of raya began with the anxious wait for the results of the sighting of the moon or rather the 'anak bulan' to signify the start of fasting or 'posa' in the local Sarawak slang. The kampong folks would be busy clearing and cleaning the graves of their families and loved ones at all the mosques one or two days before. Adults and childrens suddenly thronged the cemetaries and all fears of 'hantu tinggu', 'hantu bangkit' or whatever else just disappeared into thin air. We believed that during the holy month of ramadan spirits and ghosts were kept in 'jail' by God so there is nothing to fear and kids would wander out at night freely.
I remember my dad would wait for the announcement on Radio Sarawak around 7.30 to 8pm of the sighting of the elusive 'anak bulan'. I swear you could have heard sighs of relief among us kids when dad would say: "ok, fasting will start the day after tomorrow; they can't see the anak bulan". Phew! Another day of eating before we go hungry and thirsty! Lame jokes about 'anak bulan' would circulate during these times as there were at least 2 or 3 persons that I knew whose names were Bulan ... and their children would be 'anak bulan'. Poor kids, come to think of it they probably did not enjoy those jokes at all.
However if the 'anak bulan' was sighted the announcement of 'posa' over the airwaves by the 'pemegang mohor mohor diraja' (we just called him 'mohor' those days and I noticed his script has not changed till today) would trigger a bustling of activities that reverberated through the kampong. Our home was adjacent to the mosque, a small wooden surau those days, and we could hear the adults arriving at the surau. The beating of the drums or the 'bedok' would begin soon after. The 'posa bedok' beat is distinctly different from the normal 'bedok' beat calling for the 5 daily prayers. I tried my hands at that too. The normal call for prayers 'bedok' beat is done with one rotan drum stick while a 'posa bedok' beat would typically be done with two drum sticks. Impressive knowledge of the technicalities here.
The surau is the centre of activities especially at night thorughout the posa month. It would be filled to the brim with rows and rows of kampong folks coming for the 'terawih' prayers that follows the isyak prayers. Somehow the rows decrease as the posa month progresses. Isyak is typically around 8pm in Kuching and the 'terawih' prayers would last till around 9 to 9.30pm. Kids as young as 7 years or younger thronged the surau and usually assigned to the last row with an adult assigned to 'supervise' us. A small rotan is not unusual. Kids being kids, we were quite a handful, there were murmurings, burps, giggles, even bursts of laughter, pushings and shovings etc which the adults found distracting.
Kids flocked to the surau during the posa month as there was a sense of celebration at the surau during the month. The surau would be lit up with multi coloured festive bulbs. 'Hantus' and evil spirits are 'kept in jail by God', and all sorts of delicious traditional cakes or 'kuih' and 'teh susu' (no teh tarik in Sarawak then) were delivered to the surau nightly. After the 'terawih' prayers adults and kids would be served these delicious 'kuihs' which the kampong folks used to take turns donating to the surau during posa month.
Thinking of the 'kuihs' is making me drool. They was the all time favourite 'kuih bingka' of all flavours, my personal of all time favourite 'kuih seri muka', 'kuih kosoi', 'bahulu', 'kuih sepit' and many more. Yummy!!! Adults and kids alike were encouraged to stay back after 'terawih' prayers to recite the Quran ('tadrus' it was called) every night during the posa month. Some kids stayed behind while others left soon after they had their early share of the kuihs. The tadrus would culminate in a Quran recital competition during the last few nights of 'posa' month. Sufficed to say I did not have any trophy to show.
The days of posa month are trying times for kids. Really trying. We began posa from as early as 7 years old. My grandma Hasmah (Nek Smah) was the grandmaster of 'posa' in our home. The breaking of fast or 'berbuka puasa' or 'sungkei' in local Sarawak dialect. Sungkei was just out of this world to us children. A typical Nek Smah's sungkei spread would have our dinner table full of different dishes! Kurma dates preceded arguably the king of sungkei dishes in Sarawak which is the 'bubur pedas' and attending court would be 'ikan terubok panggang', 'telur ikan terubok', chicken curry and variations of chicken dishes, fried 'ikan kembong', 'tenggiri masak kicap', uniquely Sarawak's 'sayur midin' and 'umai', assortments of vegetables and the desserts.
Oh the desserts!!! Nek Smah's sungkei cannot do without the Kuching Open Air Market 'kacang cendol', 'ice kacang special', and her original 'air selasih' which came in various colours and flavors, 'bubur kacang', 'kuih koci', 'seri muka', home made 'tapai' and the endless list of mouth watering desserts. Oh grandma's desserts...what can I say. And herein lies grandma's catch!! She had a simple rule for the kids which was consistently adhered to over the years without any exception - you have to posa to earn the right to sit at the table from the start of 'sungkei'. Kids who do not posa had to wait for their turn after those who 'posa' were done. Man!!! She had the best incentive scheme going there...we all started to posa as early as seven years; even partial posas would count for my dear Nek Smah as long as we made an attempt to posa.
Sahurs are usually leftovers of the sungkei spread. Nek Smah would be up and about as early as 3am preparing for sahur. Just as well that she had a lengthy head start over us because I cannot forget how much time it took to wake us sleepy heads for sahur. Dear Nek Smah persisted in waking up my elder brother Piruz and sister Betty. Sometimes it seemed like forever to wake us up but she would keep at it, lovingly nudging us. She was an effective alarm clock. You just could not shake her off. Sahur was not negotiable.
Selamat Hari Raya Part 2 would reminisce over 'posa yok yok', 'bertuntung', 'meriam buluh', raya shopping, 'sembahyang raya' and 'berjarah'.
(this posting is still to be edited for grammar mistakes by Nabiya; blame her for taking off for raya break in kuching and abandoning her poor old dad)
Nabs: Edited... I guess.
Any inaccuracy in the postings is entirely attributed to the blooger's lapse of memory and noone else's.
I don't think you can hear this particular song on the radiowaves anymore as firecrackers were banned in Malaysia during all festive seasons. But there were many great raya songs which could trigger your nostalgic raya mood along with the memories of raya.
Raya as a child in Kampong Gita, and I imagine everywhere else, was not just the one day or week after fasting month. It stretched from the eve of ramadan, througout ramadan to the eve of raya and culminating on the week of raya.
My early memories of raya began with the anxious wait for the results of the sighting of the moon or rather the 'anak bulan' to signify the start of fasting or 'posa' in the local Sarawak slang. The kampong folks would be busy clearing and cleaning the graves of their families and loved ones at all the mosques one or two days before. Adults and childrens suddenly thronged the cemetaries and all fears of 'hantu tinggu', 'hantu bangkit' or whatever else just disappeared into thin air. We believed that during the holy month of ramadan spirits and ghosts were kept in 'jail' by God so there is nothing to fear and kids would wander out at night freely.
I remember my dad would wait for the announcement on Radio Sarawak around 7.30 to 8pm of the sighting of the elusive 'anak bulan'. I swear you could have heard sighs of relief among us kids when dad would say: "ok, fasting will start the day after tomorrow; they can't see the anak bulan". Phew! Another day of eating before we go hungry and thirsty! Lame jokes about 'anak bulan' would circulate during these times as there were at least 2 or 3 persons that I knew whose names were Bulan ... and their children would be 'anak bulan'. Poor kids, come to think of it they probably did not enjoy those jokes at all.
However if the 'anak bulan' was sighted the announcement of 'posa' over the airwaves by the 'pemegang mohor mohor diraja' (we just called him 'mohor' those days and I noticed his script has not changed till today) would trigger a bustling of activities that reverberated through the kampong. Our home was adjacent to the mosque, a small wooden surau those days, and we could hear the adults arriving at the surau. The beating of the drums or the 'bedok' would begin soon after. The 'posa bedok' beat is distinctly different from the normal 'bedok' beat calling for the 5 daily prayers. I tried my hands at that too. The normal call for prayers 'bedok' beat is done with one rotan drum stick while a 'posa bedok' beat would typically be done with two drum sticks. Impressive knowledge of the technicalities here.
The surau is the centre of activities especially at night thorughout the posa month. It would be filled to the brim with rows and rows of kampong folks coming for the 'terawih' prayers that follows the isyak prayers. Somehow the rows decrease as the posa month progresses. Isyak is typically around 8pm in Kuching and the 'terawih' prayers would last till around 9 to 9.30pm. Kids as young as 7 years or younger thronged the surau and usually assigned to the last row with an adult assigned to 'supervise' us. A small rotan is not unusual. Kids being kids, we were quite a handful, there were murmurings, burps, giggles, even bursts of laughter, pushings and shovings etc which the adults found distracting.
Kids flocked to the surau during the posa month as there was a sense of celebration at the surau during the month. The surau would be lit up with multi coloured festive bulbs. 'Hantus' and evil spirits are 'kept in jail by God', and all sorts of delicious traditional cakes or 'kuih' and 'teh susu' (no teh tarik in Sarawak then) were delivered to the surau nightly. After the 'terawih' prayers adults and kids would be served these delicious 'kuihs' which the kampong folks used to take turns donating to the surau during posa month.
Thinking of the 'kuihs' is making me drool. They was the all time favourite 'kuih bingka' of all flavours, my personal of all time favourite 'kuih seri muka', 'kuih kosoi', 'bahulu', 'kuih sepit' and many more. Yummy!!! Adults and kids alike were encouraged to stay back after 'terawih' prayers to recite the Quran ('tadrus' it was called) every night during the posa month. Some kids stayed behind while others left soon after they had their early share of the kuihs. The tadrus would culminate in a Quran recital competition during the last few nights of 'posa' month. Sufficed to say I did not have any trophy to show.
The days of posa month are trying times for kids. Really trying. We began posa from as early as 7 years old. My grandma Hasmah (Nek Smah) was the grandmaster of 'posa' in our home. The breaking of fast or 'berbuka puasa' or 'sungkei' in local Sarawak dialect. Sungkei was just out of this world to us children. A typical Nek Smah's sungkei spread would have our dinner table full of different dishes! Kurma dates preceded arguably the king of sungkei dishes in Sarawak which is the 'bubur pedas' and attending court would be 'ikan terubok panggang', 'telur ikan terubok', chicken curry and variations of chicken dishes, fried 'ikan kembong', 'tenggiri masak kicap', uniquely Sarawak's 'sayur midin' and 'umai', assortments of vegetables and the desserts.
Oh the desserts!!! Nek Smah's sungkei cannot do without the Kuching Open Air Market 'kacang cendol', 'ice kacang special', and her original 'air selasih' which came in various colours and flavors, 'bubur kacang', 'kuih koci', 'seri muka', home made 'tapai' and the endless list of mouth watering desserts. Oh grandma's desserts...what can I say. And herein lies grandma's catch!! She had a simple rule for the kids which was consistently adhered to over the years without any exception - you have to posa to earn the right to sit at the table from the start of 'sungkei'. Kids who do not posa had to wait for their turn after those who 'posa' were done. Man!!! She had the best incentive scheme going there...we all started to posa as early as seven years; even partial posas would count for my dear Nek Smah as long as we made an attempt to posa.
Sahurs are usually leftovers of the sungkei spread. Nek Smah would be up and about as early as 3am preparing for sahur. Just as well that she had a lengthy head start over us because I cannot forget how much time it took to wake us sleepy heads for sahur. Dear Nek Smah persisted in waking up my elder brother Piruz and sister Betty. Sometimes it seemed like forever to wake us up but she would keep at it, lovingly nudging us. She was an effective alarm clock. You just could not shake her off. Sahur was not negotiable.
Selamat Hari Raya Part 2 would reminisce over 'posa yok yok', 'bertuntung', 'meriam buluh', raya shopping, 'sembahyang raya' and 'berjarah'.
(this posting is still to be edited for grammar mistakes by Nabiya; blame her for taking off for raya break in kuching and abandoning her poor old dad)
Nabs: Edited... I guess.
Any inaccuracy in the postings is entirely attributed to the blooger's lapse of memory and noone else's.
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