Malaysians observe a number of holidays and festivities throughout
the year, on both the federal and state level. Other festivals are
observed by particular ethnic or religion groups, but are not public
holidays. The main holy days of each major religion are public holidays.
The most widespread holiday is the "Hari Merdeka" (Independence Day), otherwise known as "Merdeka" (Freedom), on 31 August. It commemorates the independence of the Federation of Malaya. This, as well as Labour Day
(1 May), the King's birthday (first Saturday of June), and some other
festivals are major national public holidays. Federal Territory day is
celebrated in the three Federal territories. Malaysia Day, held on 16 September, commemorates the formation of Malaysia through the union of Malaya, Singapore, Sabah, and Sarawak, although it is celebrated mainly in East Malaysia.
Malaysia Independence Day
New Year's Day, Chinese New Year, and the start of the Islamic calendar are all public holidays.Muslim holidays are highly prominent in Malaysia. The most important of these is Hari Raya Puasa (also called Hari Raya Aidilfitri), which is the Malay translation of Eid al-Fitr. It is a festival honoured by Muslims worldwide marking the end of Ramadan, the fasting month. They also celebrate Hari Raya Haji (also called Hari Raya Aidiladha, the translation of Eid ul-Adha), Awal Muharram (Islamic New Year) and Maulidur Rasul (Birthday of the Prophet).
Eid al-Fitr
Malaysian Chinese typically hold the same festivals observed by Chinese around the world. Chinese New Year is the most prominent, lasting for 15 days. Hindus in Malaysia celebrate Diwali (or Deepavali), the festival of light, while Thaipusam is a celebration in which pilgrims from all over the country meet at the Batu Caves.Wesak
(Malay for Vesak), the day of Buddha's birth, is a public holiday.
Malaysia's Christian community observes most of the holidays observed by
Christians elsewhere, most notably Christmas and Easter. Good Friday, however, is only a public holiday in the two Bornean states. The harvest festivals of Gawai in Sarawak and Kaamatan in Sabah are also important for East Malaysians.
Chinese New Year.
Despite most of the festivals being identified with a particular
ethnic or religious group, festivities are often participated in by all
Malaysians. One example of this is the celebration of Kongsi Raya, which is celebrated when Hari Raya Puasa and Chinese New Year coincide. The term Kongsi Raya (which means "sharing the celebration" in Malay) was coined because of the similarity between the word kongsi and the Chinese New Year greeting of Gong xi fa cai. Similarly, the portmanteau Deepa Raya was coined when Hari Raya Puasa and Deepavali coincided.
Deepavali.
A practice known as "open house" (rumah terbuka) is common
during the festivities, especially during Hari Raya Aidilfitri,
Deepavali, Chinese New Year, and Christmas. Open house means that all
well-wishers are received and that everyone, regardless of background,
is invited to attend.
Open houses are normally held at the home of the host and foods are
prepared by the host. There are also open houses held at larger public
venues, especially when hosted by government agencies or corporations.
Most Malaysians take the time off work or school to return to their
hometowns to celebrate the festivities with their extended relatives.
This practice is commonly known as balik kampung and usually causes traffic jams on most highways in the country.
Congkak is a game of Malay origin played in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand, and some parts of Sumatra and Borneo. Congkak, which is mostly played by girls, has simple rules that allow
the boards to have different numbers of holes. Congkak boards are often
made of teak or mahogany wood are often elaborately carved into various
shapes such as naga or birds.
How To Play?
The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven (some have
ten holes in two sets of five, some have eighteen holes in two sets of
nine), plus an additional bigger store-hole for each player. Each player
controls the seven holes on their side of the board, and their score is
the number of seeds in their left-hand store. In Indonesia, the holes are called anak ("child"), while the larger store holes are called indung ("mother").
A total of 98 pieces are used in the two sets of seven board version.
In Southeast Asia, cowrie shells and tamarind seeds are the most
common. Seven seeds are placed in each hole except for the players' store. The
objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.
Players take turns moving the seeds except in the first move which is
performed simultaneously, beginning with the hole closest to his/her
own store. After this first simultaneous movement, once the last seed
falls into an empty hole, the players' first turn is over and the
opponent of the player who reached an empty hole first commences his/her
turn after the other player has finished his opening move too.
On a
turn, a player chooses one of the seven holes under their control. The
player removes all seeds from this hole, and distributes them in each
hole clockwise from this hole, in a process called sowing. Sowing skips an opponent's store, but does not skip a player's own store.
If a player is unable to fill a hole with seven seeds that hole is considered sunog ("burnt"); all excess seeds are returned to the store. The round begins with the player with no sunog holes taking his/her turn sowing first.
If the last seed falls into an occupied hole, all the seeds are
removed from that hole, and are sown starting from that hole. The
process continues until the last seed falls into a player's store, or an
empty hole.
If the last seed sown falls into a player's own store, they
immediately earn another turn, which can begin at any of the seven holes
under their control.
The game ends, when a player has no seeds in his holes at the start
of his turn. The remaining seeds are awarded to his opponent.
The objective of the game is to capture more seeds than one's opponent.
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The dance is called Zapin Tenglu, one of the many types of zapin dances in Malaysia. This type of zapin dance is originated from the state of Johor and among the most popular Malay folk dance in Malaysia.
The
dancers in this performance are those professional zapin dancers from
Johor's Heritage Foundation funded by the State of Johor Government
(Yayasan Warisan Johor), needless to say one of the best professional
folk dancers group in the country and the Asean region!
Zapin or
zafin was introduced to Malay archipelagos hundred of years ago by Arab
traders who came here to trade and at the same time expand the
teachings of Islam. After sometimes, the dance revolved to inculcate the
values and tradition of the local Malay people until it wholly become
unique in its own local way but still maintaining some important
features of original Arabic zapin dance like the musical instruments
used (gambus / oud, traditional drums etc.), the Middle East melody in
its song and the identical 8-counting-basic-movements in its dance
steps!
Apart from the Malaysia's state where the zapin is danced
by its people like Johor, Kedah, Terengganu, Kelantan, Sarawak and
Sabah, zapin is also danced by the people in its neighboring country
like Singapore, Indonesia and Brunei.
The variety of traditional Malaysian food is incredible. Traditional
Malaysian food is the popular food in Malaysia. Although there are many
restaurants in larger cities that serve foreign recipe such as from
middle east, Europe and America, but traditional Malaysian food still
can be found everywhere in Malaysia and they are cheap and delicious one
at street stalls. Just to remind most Malaysian food is spicy and the
common ingredient is coconut milk.
Among the popular traditional Malaysian food such as Malay dishes
that include many types of rendang such as beef rendang, lamb and
chicken in coconut milk, satay a skewered meat in peanut sauce, a
various types of glutinous rice cooked inside a banana leaf, ikan bilis a
dried anchovies fried in a sauce and served with rice.
The lontong is Malaysian food that made of compressed rice
wrapped inside banana leaf that is then cut into small cakes as staple
food replacement of steamed rice. The smaller size of lontong filled
with vegetables such as carrot, common bean and potato. Sometimes it
also filled with meat, are eaten as snack. Lontong is traditionally
made by boiling the rice until it is partially cooked and packing it
tightly into a rolled-up banana leaf. The leaf is secured and cooked in
boiling water for about 90 minutes. Once the compacted rice has cooled,
it can be cut up into bite-sized pieces.
The murtabak is popular Malaysian food recipe, but many visitors
miss out on this murtabak treat because many eateries promote naan and
tandoori chicken over it. It is basically a plain roti canai, a
pan-fried bread with an omelets-like stuffing with eggs and onions with
chicken, beef or mutton with either curry sauce or dahl for it sauce.
Penang Mee Rebus is just beautiful and rich in colour. It is
combination of sour and savoury in taste. The noodles and bean sprouts
are first blanched and the thick sweet potatoes gravy then poured into
the noodle. The toppings consist of fried bean curd, boiled potatoes and
eggs then finally garnished with a piece of lime, spring onion and
chillies. Visit Penang CRC to try Penang Mee Rebus.
Another traditional Malaysian food that can not be missed in
everyday Malaysian life is Nasi Lemak. Nasi Campur is mixed rice in
Malay and refers to a plate of white rice that you fill in your plate
whatever suits your taste from the counter depend on which area you go.
Nasi campur counter can have up to hundred different dishes covering
everything you can think of from vegetables to the fish and types of
meat. People usually add some ulam and Sambal Belacan that has famous
aromatic sauce made of a grind mixture of shrimp paste, salt, chilies
and lime juice that spice up your meal.
Terengganu Nasi Dagang which is said is the rice that was eaten by trader
on their business journey. The dish is mixes of rice and glutinous rice
with coconut milk added once it is cooked. The rice is eaten with tuna
curry and light vegetable pickles. Nasi dagang is, perhaps one of the
most popular Malaysian traditional food representing food for states of
Terengganu.
