Hari Raya Aidilfitri
After a month of fasting during the month of ramadan, muslims celebrate the first day of syawal which is the tenth month of the muslim calendar with joyous enthusiasm. This is a major festival for muslims and they usher in the day with prayers in mosques and remembering their departed loved ones. It is also the time for family reunion when members of the family from different parts of the country get together. Special festival dishes are served for Festivals and friends during "open house". The festival mood is reflected is brightly decorated homes, government and commercial buildings. Homes are also lit with all lamps at the entrance in keeping with a long established tradition.

However, for urban families, this ritual has been adapted to their own living conditions. Here the family rises, bathes and gets dressed before dawn. This is done without the use of any form of light. When everyone is ready, wearing their best clothes, they assemble around a display of fruits and flowers. Only then are lamps lit. The vision of natural beauty must be the first sight in the morning. On the rising of dawn, a vegetarian breakfast is enjoyed by all members of the family.

Goat or cattle are slaughtered as animal sacrifice. It is a symbolic gesture depicting to the story of Prophet Abraham sacrificing his son, Ishmael as an act of loyalty to Allah. The meat from these sacrificed animals is distributed to the poor. Most of the day is celebrated with prayers at mosques.

For that purpose, Water Festival Month Programme is instituted with the intention of re-enacting the variety of events of yesteryears and to utilise the beauty and uniqueness of the natural environment of the country as one of the tourism attractions for domestic as well as international market, and to instill the appreciation towards water. This programme will be carried out for a period of one-month starting from 14 April-13 May 2001 with packaging of all activities based on water resources throughout the country.

The festival highlights the three sinificiant events in the life of Lord Buddha. They are ; his birthday, his enlightenments and the achievement of Nirvana. On this day, Buddhist devotees attend services in temples throughout the country. Talks on Buddhism are also given to the disciples of Buddha.

In the state of malacca, a galastyle procession, complete with decorated floats, marching bands and acrobatic ats pass through the streets at night. Unlike most other malaysian Festivals, wesak is celebrated on a spiritual note, minus the loud feasting and merrymaking.

However, the festival is not just celebrated as a solemn and spiritual exercise but with great pomp and festive merry-making. The fun gets merrier with the drinking of the inevitable tapai which is an alcoholic drink made from rice wine. Apart from these, there are also organised agriculture shows, buffalo races, cultural perfomances and traditional games as part and parcel of the festive celebrations.

Hence, it is a reason of thanksgiving for the bountiful harvest and also a time to rest from work before the new planting season. Preparations for the festival include the sprucing up of the longhouse, clearing the gravesites of ancestors and the preparation of rice wine and lemang (glutimous rice). During the festival week, the Dayaks dress in their traditional costumes. The sound of boisterous laughter, convival talk, drinking, dancing and merry-making will echo relentlesstly all through the days of this exotic and colourful festival.

The next day, devotees carrying kavadis throng hindu temples amidst chanting and drumming. A kavadi is either a metal or wooden arch with elaborate decorations, which is placed on the devotee's shoulder. Hooks of spikes extend from the kavadi to various parts of the devotee's body. Thaipusam is celebrated on a big scale in the States of Selangor, pulau pinang, Negeri Sembilan and Perak.

The Penang International Dragon Boat Festival has participating teams all over the world include australia, new zealand, denmark, norway, macau, thailand, japan, britain, west germany, usa and others.

Dumplings are stuffed with meat, mushroom, egg yolk, dried prawn and chestnuts or beans wrapped in bamboo leaves.

Grand celebrations are held all over the nation, marked by parades, processions, stage performances, competitions and fascinating fireworks display. In Kuala Lumpur, where the major events of the celebrations take place, the Merdeka Square becomes the focal point where the various races, corporate citizens, government bodies and other communities joins hands with the King, the Prime Minister and his Cabinet members in a show of solidarity and national unity.

Several days later, the search party found a single talk of lotus bearing twin flowers growing under the bridge. Today, the festival is celebrated day by holding religious ceromonies at homes, temples. Associations and guilds. Prayers are offered to dead and offerings of food such of chickens, vegetables, fruits, beancurd and white rice are placed at street corners and roadsides for the spirits. The chinese believe that this will prevent wandering spirits from entering their homes and cause disturbance in their households.

Mooncakes are circular-shaped pastry with rice fillings of lotus seed paste, sweet red beanpuree and egg yolks. Another storey related to the festival comes from the Hsia dynasty. It tells of a tyrannical King who discovered an elixir for immortality.

The King's kind-hearted and beautiful wife, stole this elixir to prevent further sufferings to the people. When the King discovered that his wife was responsible for the theft, she swallowed the elixir and fled to the moon. Cakes were made in recognition of her kindness and sacrifice.

Night celebrations are marked by the Chinese community in colourful parades as children carry lanterns of every shape and size. Friends and families exchange mooncakes and other delicacies.

On the eve of the ninth moon, temples of the Deities hold a ceremony to invoke and welcome the ‘Jien Hwang Yeh’. Since the arrival of the Nine Emperor Gods is believed to be through the waterways, processions are held from temples to the sea-shore or river to symbolise this belief. Devotees dressed in traditional white, carrying joss-sticks and candles, await the arrival of their “Excellencies”.A carnival-like atmosphere pervades the temple throughout the nine-day festival. During this period of time, the constant tinkling of a prayer bell and chants from the temple priests are heard. Most devotees stay at the temple, take vegetarian meals and recite continuous chanting of prayer. A procession to send the Nine Emperor Gods home then takes place to complete the rites of this religious festival.

Easter Sunday


A key doctrine in christian theology is the resurrection of jesus christ. Easter Sunday is observed as the day christ was resurrected. Prior to easter, christians observe what is known as ‘the holy week’.the holy week commences with the service of palm sunday. Palm sunday literally means a sunday service where everybody is given a blessed palm leaf or a cross of palm leaves. The continuance of the holy week is observed on thursday evening known as maundy thursday. Maundy thursday is when jesus ate his last supper with his disciples before he was betrayed.

Jesus was betrayed and arrested at Gethsemane where he had gone to pray after the Last Supper. On that Friday morning, Jesus was crucified and died in the afternoon on the same day. This special day is known to the world as Good Friday as it commemorates Christ's sufferings and his death. Jesus had told his disciples that he would be raised from the dead on the third day of his death. On Friday, the day of his death, he was buried and on Saturday, the second day nothing had happened. But, on Sunday, the third day his tomb was empty signifying his resurrection.