Hari Raya here and there

After a whole month of fasting, we celebrated Eid last Thursday.  This is the very first year we celebrated it together.  Last year, I went home on the last day of Ramadan to be with my family.  I left Pete, who tried his hand faithfully at fasting for the first time ever, while I went back to be with my family.  I had some stuff to tend to at home, but I still felt bad that I had to leave him after he did so well during that Ramadan.  

So this year, we both got to celebrate our efforts during Ramadan.  It had been a tough month - temperatures were high, the air was dry and daylight hours were long - but we tried our best. Even though there wasn't any public holiday for Eid here, we decided to take the day off.  

At first, as the end of Ramadan was approaching, I thought I was going to feel very homesick.  I've never missed celebrating Eid, or Hari Raya as we call it in Singapore, with my family.  But I decided to be very pragmatic about it.  I tried not to think about the people and things I'm missing.  I concentrated instead of doing some of the same stuff that I would do back home.  

Food, is a huge part of the celebrations and so naturally that's the first thing I think of.  I made pineapple tarts and lemon cookies that I would always make and planned a menu of very traditional foods that my mum would cook for Hari Raya.  Pete and I also decided to invite his mum and sister to join us for dinner.  That made the day festive as well since Hari Raya is all about visiting family and friends.  

Clothes is another part of the festivities.  We usually wear our traditional clothes called baju kurung that day.  Most of mine are back in Singapore but I brought two of my favourite and Pete has one that he wore for our wedding last year.  That afternoon, after we finished cooking and cleaning up, we tried on our clothes and they fit beautifully. I guess the fasting made us lose weight.  Pete looks even better in his that day compared to when he wore it during our wedding!

To get me more into the mood, I played Hari Raya songs and tried to watch some Hari Raya programmes online.  In fact, I had been playing the songs a few days before Hari Raya.  I just love them.  Some have very insightful lyrics, some are a bit sombre but most are fun.  They really bring me back to the times when I would celebrate the festival with my family and friends. I try not to make the songs too personal because I would simply be making myself sad.  I have accepted the fact that I would miss all these special days but I am glad to be making new memories and new tradition with Pete and my family here.

With my own family, we simply make sure we web chat more often during this time.  In fact, they have asked for tips on baking cookies and cakes which were my usual Hari Raya duties.  My sister has taken over the role and I helped her in real-time while she baked.  I, in turn, asked my mum for help with some of her recipes.  Then, when some of my relatives came to visit, I would get to chat with them as well.  As we talked, I could hear the background sounds and it's easy to be immersed with the festive cheer.  I feel like I'm right there with them!  How lucky we are to be living in this technology-rich era. 

There is another huge difference between Hari Raya here and back home - we celebrated it for only one day here.  Back in Singapore, the visiting and festivities would go on for weeks because we would try to visit as many relatives and friends as we could.  But here, by Friday, it was back to normal in our household.  I do miss my family and friends a lot, especially at this very special time of the year.  But they are only a FaceTime call or SMS away.  If I do feel very homesick, all I need to do is pick up my phone and I'll be alright again.