Social studies: Family traditions

FAMILY TRADITIONS 

Since school started, in Social Studies our class has been exploring our different cultures and backgrounds. Personally, I am half Asian and half European. My mother and her family are from Malaysia, and my father and his family are mainly from Europe and New Zealand. Since I am Muslim, our family has quite a few traditions, but there are some that most people celebrate in New Zealand but we aren't actually supposed to celebrate. Yesterday in class, everyone in our class wrote some traditions and clothes that they have, we also wrote some food and drinks that they may have. Here is my list of traditions, clothes and food and drinks that my family has.

Ramadan
Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, and is observed by Muslims worldwide as a month of fasting to celebrate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad according to Islamic belief. The fast is supposed to bring the faithful closer to Allah (God) and to remind them of the suffering and the less fortunate. Fasting is supposed to be physically and spiritually detoxifying, it can also help break habits like smoking, morning coffee and midday snacking. To prepare for the fast, Muslims eat Suhoor, which is a pre-dawn meal of power foods to get them through the day. At the end of the day, at sunset, Muslims break their fast like the Prophet Muhammad did, with a sip of water and some dates.  But there are also some exceptions for particular people...  there are exceptions for children, the elderly, the sick, women who are pregnant or menstruating and people travelling, which could include athletes during tournaments.

Hari Raya
Eid al-Fitr or Hari Raya is an important religious holiday celebrated by Muslims worldwide that marks the end of Ramadan, the Islamic holy month of fasting. What our family does is go to our relatives and friends houses throughout the week to celebrate. We all gather and eat basically. Since most of us had spent a whole month fasting, we have a massive meal that everyone eats. We eat curries, rice, chicken, all sorts of things. This goes throughout the week. At the end of each Hari Raya celebrations, the children all get money! This can sometimes be a reward for the children that have fasted during Ramadan. 


Baju Kurung
Baju Kurung is a traditional Malay Costume which is the national dress of Malaysia. Baju Kurung is typically loose fitting. It is a full length dress, made up of a skirt and blouse. It is made from a long cloth with a folding thing on one side. The blouse is collarless with long sleeves. Sometimes these can be made of silk! The girls in our family wear Baju Kurung on Hari Raya. There is also a men's version of Baju Kurung as well. The Baju Melayu is a loosely fitted shirt with long sleeves, worn with long pants with a sampin. Sampin is the cloth worn on the belly area covering up to the knees or slightly below, or the mid area of the body. Sampin is worn with Baju Melayu, the traditional clothes for Malay men. 


FOOD
There are a lot of foods that my family eat, but here are two of my favourites,


NASI LEMAK: Nasi Lemak is a Malay Dish which is served in a Pandan leaf. Sometimes, Nasi Lemak can be different. It really depends where you get it! But the one that I have consists of... Coconut rice, fried chicken, sambal (chilli paste), fried anchovies, boiled egg, cucumbers and roasted peanuts. Nasi Lemak is seen as the National dish of Malaysia! My family eats it when we are in Malaysia and on Hari Raya. We typically have it for Breakfast in Malaysia!



KETUPAT: Ketupat is a rice cake that is served with hot Penut sauce. But it's not the rice cake your thinking of. Its a cake made of sticky rice that is served cold with hot peanut sauce. Sometimes its served with chicken as well!






TEH TARIK: Teh Tarik is a drink that can be found in Malaysia. It is made from black tea and condensed milk with sugar. This drink is very sweet and probably contains a lot of calories but it's so good! I normally see Teh Tarik at night markets in Malaysia. But we also have it on Hari Raya and at family gatherings.