Raya Ramblings

There were a whole sea of people at the mosque when my family and I went to there for Hari Raya mass prayers in the morning.

I wanted to take the lines of cars parked by the entire stretch of roads, to and forth as well as the mountain of footwear outside of the mosque but I really didnt have the time with everyone rushing and squeezing in.

It got to the extent of the majority of us having to prostrate in an extremely cramped fashion.

Listening to the preaching after mass prayers

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My dad has a very large family. He has 12 siblings. For several years so far, every raya, a relative will host the clan meetup according to their age-rank. My dad was the eldest, so we played host some years back. This year is my aunts’ turn. She’s the youngest in the family.

Me, mum and sis all have the same noses!

Hari Raya is a day for forgiveness and past misdeeds are forgotten. It can be a rather emotional moment for family members.

I could hear the conversations from around.

“I planned alot of things with mum in law for this coming raya but its just not fated to be … we should treasure the people while they are still around”

“Lets just hope that we dont end up meeting only once a year”

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There were loads of lovely food to be eaten, including my raya favourites, Ayam Masak Merah (Chicken in savory chilli) and Ketupat! (Rice dumplings wrapped in coconut leaves)

I got to meet up with a few of my relatives.

Like this really adorable boy! He’s the son of another aunt. He’s so small and so cute I just wanted to eat him up.

And this is another relative which I find amazingly romantic after all these years. From the start when they courted till many many years after, they still have a most loving relationship. I’ve never seen them being ill tempered with each other before.

People like these are quite a rarity.