Aidilfitri di Perantauan

After a year blog hiatus, 'Hej!' I'm back and ready to write again..........

 تَقَبَّلَ اللَّهُ مِنَّا وَ مِنْكُمْ  

(Taqabbalallahu minna wa minkum)

It's 4th day of Raya today. How's your Raya celebration so far, guys? I am pretty sure you guys have a great time with your loved ones while enjoying your favorite Raya foods. I'm kinda jealous with you guys especially when I'm thinking about lemang, ketupat, rendang, lontong, dodol and etc... *making sad face* 

Hari Raya has always been the biggest family reunion of the year. Only on this special day we could meet everyone since semua adik-beradik dan saudara-mara pakat-pakat balik kampung at the same time. So, spending Hari Raya miles away from home for the first time has been a nostalgic for me. This year we celebrated Raya in Uppsala, Sweden. Macam mana boleh tercampak ke sini, let's me explain it later in my next post. Stay tuned! Hihi...

Here's our family Raya photos for this year in Sweden. 

Our small family picture in shades of navy and pinkish with a background of small yacht at Fyrisån river, Uppsala.

We're wearing simple cotton baju kurung which I've bought the 'kain pasang' from my sister-in-law, Beylla. 

Tahun nie kan raya ala kadar jer.. 

This Baju Melayu 'anak bapak' was totally a last minutes plan. Nasib baik sempat siap. 
Sent to tailors about a week before I flew here. 

Anyway, on the morning of the first day Hari Raya, we went to Mat and Mimi's open house in Handarbetsvägen, Nantuna and meet other Malaysian's students and families there. We arrived just in the right time for Raya prayer as they didn't performed it yet. Alhamdulillah, dapat juga solat sunat Raya. Actually we're little bit late because we had missed the earlier bus. 

The khutbah Raya by the host was full with wisdom and advice on how to be a better individual for the sake of a better community and a better society as a whole. He also reminded us that Allah placed us temporarily in this world to test us. The result of this test will determine our afterlife, either Paradise or Hell. The khutbah was conducted in 'loghat kelate' okay! Nasib baik kawe pehe mu royak gapo. hehe....

After we had 'bersalaman dan bermaafan' session, it's time to enjoy foods for sure. Tuan rumah have served a lot of delicious foods (Kelantanese styles) and desserts. And I have eaten repeatedly. Diet kita tolak tepi dulu... Rugi kalau tak makan, bukan senang nak dapat makan masakan orang kita kat sini.

Before this, I only saw on television but this time around I have experienced it myself. Macam ini rupanya beraya di perantauan. Celebrating Hari Raya abroad was not so bad as long as we have friends to celebrate it together. Even though the Raya celebration is not so happening as in Malaysia, it's still enjoyable and we can feel the Raya atmosphere here. Priceless experience and memories indeed. 

Friends and families gathered for Hari Raya

Meeting new people and making new friends

We left Mat and Mimi's open house around 5 p.m. Pheww! More than 7 hours we all beraya in this house. Kalau kat Malaysia mahu tuan rumah dah bagi signal jelingan perli sebab tak reti-reti nak balik kan. hehe.. Anyway, I can say it was the end of our Raya for this year.

Okay anak-anak, Raya dah habis.. Let's get back to our routines.

The kids' duit raya collections for this year in Swedish Krona

Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri, everybody! Maaf Zahir dan Batin.. I hope you guys have a blessed Eid with your family members, relatives and friends wherever you are in this world. And happy fasting (puasa enam Syawal) to those who start fasting today. 

See you soon!