REMEMBRANCE 40: RAYA EVE TRADITION

Second generation of Syed Abdullah busy at barbeque pit.
From left: Shahir, Sollehin and Ashraf

Supervisors checking whether the beef and chickens were properly cooked

Waiting to take over from their elder brothers. From left: Ashraf, Fariz and Hanif.

Just minutes to spare before the break of the fast, Syan arrived at Hutan Setali after being send by his girl friend who has to rush back alone to Perlis. I do not understand what is the special pull factor that Syan has which has attributed to the level of sacrifice that his girl friend gladly has got to endure.

Syan busy explaining about the accusations of mistreatments of his girl friends that his aunties has hurled against him. Form left seated in front of the table: Zam, Ezman, Najwa, Za and Sollehin
Sollehin listening attentively to the advice by his aunties that he should look for candidate who is better cook that his own mother.
From left: Najwa, Za, Sollehin, Dollah and Norlia.

Kamal, the favourite grand son of Mak, busy fulfilling his appetite after a hard day work. His ambition in life was to buy his mother, Norin with a new MYV which could reduce his mother's stress on her knees while driving.

Without his fireworks, Faiz was kept busy by Ryan

The first couple to leave the gathering was Firdaus, Fairuz and Ryan.

On the eve of Hari Raya Day, it is a our family tradition to gather at Mak’s house for our annual family gathering. The tradition of having this Raya eve family gathering started when Lid was still alive. With Lid’s demise on 13.05.1989 and followed by Mak’s demise on 18.12.2000 and with the blessing of Allah we have managed to keep the tradition fully alive.

Our menu of the night is very simple but very enticing to the mouth. The main menu is the barbeque of beef and chickens. While the main dish is mee/beehun sup with the ingredients prepared by Za which has inherited it from Kak Nab. Zam feels that the mee/beehun soup’s quality is comparable to any four star hotel in the country. Apart from that, there is also the laksa from Telok Kechai. All the foods were prepared by the members of the family collectively with Norin taking most of the brunt of the works.

Without realizing it, we have perfected our share of jobs. Fadzil is the master planner who is in charge of the logistics ably assisted by his five sons. Abdullah is in charge of the barbeque. Syed Jaafar is in charge of preparing the drinks whether it is carbonated or otherwise. However this year’s Hari Raya family gathering was very significant for us because it was the year of changing of the guards.

As our children has grown up, all the chores that has been done formerly by their parents has been taken over by their children completely. Fadzil and Abdullah has more time to relax and chat. Our tradition of having Laksa Telok Kechai has also changed into Laksa Kuala Perlis which has been ordered by Fairuz, the daughter in law of Hindon. Although Syed Jaafar has gone to Perlis before the breaking of the past, yet he has not abandoned his responsibility in preparing the drinks. He has taken the pain to prepare the drink mixture before hand and we just need to add water and ice. All my sisters has been elevated to the post of quality supervisors.

My four sisters and I

It was also my first assignment to collect Lid’s land lease from Pak Mat at Kelubi from Ami Leh who has been doing it over the years. So on the Raya Eve family gathering, I took the opportunity to distribute the takings to all my four sisters.

As I was very concern about my children and also my nephews and nieces who are having difficulties in locating the burial plots of Mak and Lid on their own without our assistance, I bought two sacks of marble pebbles to be spread over Mak and Lid’s burial plots. Kamal has bought red marble bricks to form the box for the marble pebbles to be contained. Kamal and Abdullah has done a good job in finishing their jobs on the burial plots of Lid and Mak. With that , I do hope that it would be much easier to locate Mak and Lid’s burial plots.

Mak and Lid's burial plots at the Pulau Maharaja Burial Ground has been spruced up by Abdullah and Kamal on the evening the last day of fasting @ 19.09.2009.

Mak's burial plot

Lid's burial plot

I would not know for how long we would be able to sustain the Hari Raya Eve Family Gathering with the participation of all the siblings. At the moment, only Za is staying outside Kedah but she has never failed to attend the annual gathering. Furthermore her mother in law is staying with Kak Chik in Kangar, Perlis and naturally Syed Jaafar would come back to be with her mother.

With the blessing of Allah, Syed Abdullah's family would be experiencing another expension as I would made to understand by Norlia that she would be receiving proposal for the hand of her eldest daughter, Siti Fairuz. She requested me to be free on 25.12.2009 to receive the proposed delegation. Her other two daughters would also have suitors from the farthest south of Peninsular and beyond the South China Sea. Even our sole post graduate lady is also making up her mind on her choice of her life companion. So I am very happy that Syed Abdullah's family ia expending beyond leaps and bound.

I cannot predict about the future but I think we would have a thought time maintaining the present status quo when every sibling would have their own extended family themselves. If I look back at the family of my grand father, I think we are also getting far apart. I even do not the children of some of my cousins. To add salt to the injury, a few cousins tend to annoy their cousins by their unwarranted remarks and attitudes. Their adverse remarks and negative attitudes has produced frictions amongst the family members which are beyond repair in the near future.

I would always pray for Allah's guidance that Syed Abdullah's family members would always stay united to face the various challenges in the future.. Insya Allah.