And so this Raya came and went. But it was so special and so very busy. I dont even know what I ate, who I salam-ed and whose house I haven’t visited or did visit!
It was not a case of over-celebrating. It was really a case of bad-timing. All my projects reached a climax on Raya week and the week after, starting with Ra Ra Bazar live show on Raya eve. Then it was the deadline for the museum’s first research draft, closing HRA survey project, and then just when I was about to breathe – the Jalan project landed on me. I can never forget the night Zai and Yen called me downstairs to have a meeting at the void-deck on a Friday night to propose the deal – thats the avant-garde executive producers for you. Muruku in hand.
My husband, my dear dear sweet husband is my pillar of strength. This is his first Raya here in SG after migrating to Canada, and it was awesome. It was a good thing that me and Manja, my cousin planned our flower shopping 2 days before Raya. We did our traditional ‘curi daun dari kubur Cina’ too – from where else but Onraet Road. Ajun was amazed, but hey – Raya is abt tradition, no? Everyone knows about the curi daun custom me and another cousin, Azman, started sometime back. It is a case of kelakar-seram every year. PArk the car by the cemetery, quickly take out your parang and slash the beautiful dauns away, and quickly drive off. Oh yeah, baca ayat Kursi while you are at it.I shld really stop this silly routine 😉
My poor mum had a malam raya all on her own since I was on site in Geylang for the filming. I missed going to the mosque with her to takbir, as I had promised – and I remembered feeling so sad when the takbir bergema while I was with the rest of the crew in the OB van. I secretly told myself – “zuzan, never again. Never again should you work on Raya eve.” It just does not make sense to me but it was a commitment I made and I had to stick it out.
Raya day itself was joyful. We managed to do the octopus thing visiting both my side and Ajun’s side of the family with smooth coordination – thanks to the rented Subaru! The last house was Uncle Yem’s house around 11pm – where he cleverly served the BR clan with deep fried steak – what a nice wash for the already currified tummy!
The climax was of course kampong. It was hilarious, to say the least. Firstly, I made with a deal with Ajun that I will drive there,and he will drive back (clever right? cos I know it will be tiring to drive after a BBQ!;) I kept on gloating that the drive to Melaka is chicken feed since I do it all the time, and it was. Until I got lost. Sigh.
When we found my Busu’s house my other cousins were hard at work on the BBQ. I was greeted by a very icy look from my sister – the bossy one (surprise – I am NOT the bossy one in the family, you guys have not met my sister, the wanna CEO!). She hated the fact that i arrived late.
30 chickens, 26 kg of fish, 10 kg of rice and 1 big kambing were sacrificed to feed our family. The 200 or so chocolates from Canada that Ajun brought were also snapped up within seconds by the 40 kids we have in the 4th generation of my family – and the firecrackers did not stop exploding even though it was 5 pm in the day! Budak-budak bandar kalau dah pergi kampong ini jadinya – JAKUN. Haha. It took 30 full minutes just to gather everyone in front of Busu’s house for a family portrait – satu masuk, satu lari, semua masuk, satu nak pergi toilet, semua dah line-up, ada yang main bola. You get the picture.A big family isnt easy to manage.
And yes, my Busu BOUGHT the kambing we BBQ-ed since her missing ones never came back. Dah berhari-raya kat rumah lain lah tu kambing-kambing tu.The best part of all this are the smiles on the elder’s face. I just love that.
It is all this that I will miss. But I will try to return every year for all the chaos that make any Raya a celebration indeed.
wah… syoknyer raya and the lagu raya song!
Man!!! And I thought that MY family eats a lot!! I’ve gotta give it to you and your clan lah! 30 chicken, 26kilos of fish, a goat and all!! That cd feed a whole kampung!!
Sure does sound meriah! Bestnya! And u’r right about traditions..we gotta keep em alive in the family, eh?
Uja, sounds like you had a blastful hari raya! Must be interesting for Ajun too! U also melaka kampung mari ah? Anedra is right, tu makan banyaknyaa…bukan satu kampung je, satu melaka boleh makan sama! Selamat hari raya again! Tak sabau aku nak balikkkkkkkkkkkk
aaawwww, hai ajun dan uja raya sakan. dont worry, next yr if u have the time and $$, balik lah SG for raya, if not, come to SF and we can all raya together! but i got no kambing and o, i dont sembelih my kucing!
uja, soon u’ll be like me – only two rayas home in 26 years! But glad you had a nice time!