Guests enjoying bullock cart rides during Ponggal celebration in Taman Gottlieb as host Zarina (left) looks on. — LIM BENG TATT/The Star
BULLOCK cart rides added to the excitement of the Ponggal celebrations hosted by social activist Zarina Abdullah at her home in Taman Gottlieb, Penang.
The presence of the pair of oxen was to show her guests how much cattle had been valued by farmers in the past during the harvest festival.
Guests, children and adults alike, were in awe at the oxen looking magnificent with colourful headgear.
This was Zarina’s 30th year organising Ponggal celebrations and the first time featuring bullock cart rides.
Zarina, who is chairman of Alumni Kelab Bell Belia Tamil Malaysia Penang branch, showed her guests how to cook rice in milk with brown sugar, raisins and cashew nuts.
Guests participated in traditional games such as congkak, batu Seremban and a traditional Indian game of blindfolded players attempting to break a pot filled with gifts.
Zarina said previously the pots were filled with money, but nowadays sweets were placed instead.
“This is the day when farmers receive their earnings from their harvests and I am celebrating it with my neighbours,” she said, adding that the festival was known as “Farmers Day” in India.
Joining the celebration for the first time was Zarina’s neighbour Hoo Sui Hung, 43, with her two sons, Tang Tung Cheng, 11, and Tang Tung Yuen, nine.
“This is my first time and it’s good for me and my family to experience this celebration, especially in a multiracial society like Malaysia,” she said.
Civil servant Mohd Jamil Bidin, 36, said he had been visiting Zarina’s house for several years during Hari Raya and Ponggal as he considered Zarina like his mother, while his children regarded her as grandmother.
Jamil said it was important for Malaysians to respect the different cultures and religions to live in peace.Engineer S. Rameshwaran, 43, from Butterworth said traditional cultural events such as this were important to acquaint the younger generation with the traditional ways of Malaysian communities.
“This is how we live in a peaceful and moderate society,” he said.
