Saturday September 19, 2009
Raya reminiscences
Stories by LEONG SIOK HUI
What can we learn about Hari Raya Aidilfitri from those who grew up in the 50s?
How often have your parents or grandparents lamented about how “in those days, Hari Raya was meaningful, fun . . .” etc?
Our elders lived through the war, privation and a lot of hardship. Life was tough and people had little. But come Raya, they invariably celebrated in style and their joie de vivre was infectious.
Reliving Raya
Abd Karim Abd Shukor, 70; Born in Ipoh in 1939, Abd Karim Abd Shukor, former Bernama chief news editor, lived with his grandparents in the fishing village of Pantai Remis, Perak, during the Japanese Occupation.
“Even at that time, Raya celebration was different between the towns and the villages,” recalls Karim, a former journalist.
In those days, people only learn of the actual date of Raya the night before. In remote Pantai Remis, the news would first reach the police station closest to the village. A policeman would then pedal his rickety bicycle 10km to the village and relay the news to the mosque.
“The mosque then sounded the gong and the kids would run and shout, “Esok Raya, esok Raya! (It’s Raya tomorrow!).
“Raya was the only time we got to enjoy ketupat daun palas and rendang. Meat was expensive and considered a special treat,” recalls Karim.
Three days before Raya, the village would turn into a glowing “fairyland” as families lit oil lamps and the kampung came alive with fireworks.
“We made our own meriam buluh (bamboo cannon), but nobody got hurt,” Karim laughs. “We lit the fuse using a long stick.”
Fatimah Ismail, 66, of Kg Keriang, Kedah, is one of the few people who still makes the traditional delicacy, kuih bunga pudak. Karim and his nine siblings always received one set of new clothes each. His mother would sew the clothes six months in advance. The standard Raya clothing for boys were Bermuda khakis with shirt and for the girls, baju kurung Kedah.
Back then Raya was celebrated over one or two days only.
“Villagers who don’t go fishing by the third day wouldn’t have food on the table,” Karim explains.
Karim would hitch a ride to Ipoh in a lori ikan (fish lorry) to join the family. In Ipoh, he and his siblings would deliver kuih to their parents’ non-Muslim friends on the first day of Raya.
“We’d receive money (sort of angpow) in exchange,” Karim recollects.
His folks’ Chinese friends always gave them mandarin oranges or cakes during Chinese New Year, so Raya was a time to reciprocate the thoughtful gesture.
“The typical Raya spread was dodol, bahulu and wajik. Western cookies only came after 1958. I remember helping my sister bake cookies using butter (from tins), baking powder and maraschino cherries. And most houses served F&N orange squash cordial,” he says.
Raya goodies
The heart and soul of any festive season, food plays a starring role in many Raya celebrations. Malacca-born Norkiah Sahari remembers how her family would get into a cooking frenzy in the week leading to Raya.
The mangkut tingkat or tiffin carrier was used as a container for delivering cakes and cookies to neighbours or relatives. It was brought from India and introduced by the British. In the old days, there was no made-to-order kuih or cookies, and Ramadan bazaars didn’t exist. Norkiah’s mum made everything from scratch.
“After breaking fast, we’d start cooking non-stop till 2am or 3am,” recalls Norkiah, 72. “I was the ketupat casing expert by the time I was 13.”
Her mum’s raya spread included kuih bangkit, putu kacang and kuih keria (sweet potato donuts). To make agar-agar, they harvested seaweed and boiled them with rock sugar for hours. Unlike light, commercial agar-agar, theirs was dense. Dried under the sun, the agar-agar would form a sugary crust.
Puan Sri Dr Rohana Zubir “The must-have Raya dishes for our family are ketupat and rendang, sambal tumis udang and lodeh. Otherwise, it’s just not Raya,” says Norkiah who keeps the tradition to this day — except now, her cookies are ordered.
The Raya anticipation would reach fever pitch on Raya eve, Norkiah adds. In her house, this meant pots and pans clanging in the kitchen, Raya songs blaring from the radio and firecrackers going off.
“We’d put up new curtains, stay up to cook, chat and play firecrackers the whole night. It was certainly more joyous!” smiles Norkiah.
Growing up in Kg Baru, Kuala Lumpur, Rubiah Ahmad recalls how Raya preparations and celebrations were a communal affair.
“We had the gotong-royong spirit. My parents and our neighbours would make dodol or lemang together,” says Rubiah, 71, a retired teacher. “I used to stay up with grandma to watch the fire so the lemang wouldn’t burn.”
Houses didn’t have fences back then, and the kids were free to roam and play in their neighbours’ yards.
“Now we live in fenced houses and gated communities, and you don’t visit your neighbours unless you know them well,” Rubiah sighs.
Festive tunes
Whether merry or schmaltzy, Raya songs are a fixture in many households. But even the songs have evolved over the years.
Lyricist, producer and scriptwriter Yusnor Ef, 72, who wrote the lyrics for some of the Raya classics from the late 60s and 70s like Aidilfitri, Joget Aidilfitri, Bersabarlah Sayang, Suasana Riang di Hari Raya and Malam Tujuh Lekor, should know.
The earliest Raya song recorded was sung by Syed Idrus in Singapore in the late 1940s, Yusnor remembers. Then part of Malaya, Singapore was the hub for music, literature and the film industry.
Yusnor Ef “In those days, Raya oldies had joget, inang and keroncong influences,” says Yusnor, who was paid $15 for the first lyric job he did in 1959.
“What makes the songs endure till this day is the melody and words. The songs are catchy and simple, and the lyrics evoke the mood of the festival,” says Yusnor.
Today, Raya songs come in rock, slow or fast pop tunes with lots of Western influences, Yusnor observes.
“Nowadays when I drive and I hear what they call Raya song, I’m like ‘Apa ini? Tak sedap pun!’ (What’s this? It’s not even good!),” agrees Norkiah.
But not everyone in the old generation grew up with Raya songs. Karim, for instance, says nobody had a gramophone in Pantai Remis in the 40s.
“Only my headmaster and the coffee shop had transistor radios,” recalls Karim, who used to squat with his friends on the five-foot-way outside the shop to listen to the radio.
“Since the broadcast was from Singapore, we had limited transmission from about 4pm-7pm.”
Loss of traditions
Many from the older generation miss the fact that Raya was a time when you were free to drop in at anyone’s house.
“Today, if there’s no open house, you feel segan (embarrassed), and have to wait for people to invite you. It’s too impersonal and cold,” says Norkiah.
Norkiah Sahari One of Rubiah’s best Raya memories was celebrating with friends of all races and creed at Kirby College, UK, when she was doing her teacher’s training.
“We looked upon each other as brothers and sisters; there were no reservations,” says Rubiah.
“Since we could only cook what we could get hold of, we had jemput-jemput pisang (mashed banana fritters) one Raya. It was the simplest kuih but we savoured it.”
When Puan Sri Dr Rohana Zubir’s father was alive, Raya was a meaningful day for him because it was a time for forgiveness. On the first day of Raya, her parents would put on their best clothes and sit together, and each kid would take turns to kneel before them and ask for forgiveness.
“Dad would give us a pep talk and he’d always bring a tear to our eyes,” says Rohana, 71, whose father was the late composer Zubir Said. Pak Zubir was famous for classics like Aidilfitri, Sayang Disayang and Telaga Biru.
“In return, our parents would apologise for any wrongdoings on their part. Now, times have changed or parenting style has changed. Kids are like, ‘By the way, Selamat Hari Raya, Mummy’ and it’s like, ‘Ok, I’ve said it’,” says Rohana.
But not all elders would like a return to the past.
“Life was really hard, and I wouldn’t want my children to experience what I had to go through,” Karim points out.
“But the experience made me a stronger person and I value what I have now. But what my brother said was true — he preferred those days because you value everything because they were hard to come by.”
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