Every Hari Raya is a challenge. It is always a struggle between my willpower to stick to my healthy diet and my desire to try all the Hari Raya cookies that are on offer from Mdm Ling Bakery. Truth be told, every year my healthy diet takes a back seat as I munch down on just about any available flavour of cookies.
The damage so far…
As a side note… the cookies from this bakery are, in my opinion, and my wife’s opinion (which is perhaps more important), the best Hari Raya cookies there is.
Everyone has a health conscience and mine would have felt great consternation when Little Big Red Dot’s creative director, Wilber, approached me and said, “Daryl, want to go for this AidilFEASTri Raya Festival? We are invited!”
Images of sayur lodeh and bergedils flashed through my mind as I replied, “ok”.
This is an event that will be held from the 27th to the 28th of April 2024 at the Indian Heritage Centre at 5 Campbell Lane. This is perhaps because the Malay Heritage Centre is currently closed for revamp works. The media invite was held on the 19th of April. This was a sneak peek as to what the public can expect from the actual event.
I can see that they are ready for the actual event ahead of time!
Wilber is always looking happy. Especially when food is the subject of an event!
Time for a little media brief.
There was first an opening address by Asmah Alias, the general manager of the Malay Heritage Centre.
Next up was a musical performance by SMU Rentak (Rentak loosely translated means beat). It was interesting to note that SMU had a cultural dance group. They will be performing at the actual event and this was a first look at their performance.
Next up was a dance performance by Permata Seni Budaya. This is a traditional Malay cultural dance performance.
There was also a demonstration of WASTRA which is a traditional Indian textile and Batik Simbut craft by Hafiz Rashid. An interesting thing to note is that he is lining portions of the cloth to make it resistant to dye. Hence when the cloth is stained with dye, the portions that are lined will not be stained. Oh and mango leaves, while green, can produce yellow stains. You learn something new every day.
Next up was a demonstration of miniature food clay-making by Sherry’s Minis.
This is very intricate handiwork. This is something my daughter would take an interest in. She is always making miniature items from clay and plasticine. This though, is on a whole other level. I think there are classes where a fee will be charged.
Heard of Tarik.SG? Very good Teh Tarik was on offer. I remember him mentioning that he uses saffron from Iran to make his tea. It was very fragrant.
I always wanted to do the “tarik” but I believe I would make a big mess of the place. Hence I left it to the professional and stepped aside.
There was also a demonstration of Henna art by Hannaflair.
The founder, Azzah Atifah, is a self-taught henna artist and has been practising since 2012. It was interesting to understand how different portions of the skin would stain differently due to the variance in thickness.
Finally… there are huge food replicas at the lobby to ask us to keep “makan-ing”?
I had a very light lunch. This is not helping.
Oh and Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all Muslims out there!
Here’s the video coverage of the media preview at AidilFEASTri Raya Festival 2024.
Come celebrate Hari Raya with the Malay Heritage Centre (MHC) with a special edition of its Open House.
AidilFEASTri Raya Festival 2024 will be held at the Indian Heritage Centre (IHC) from 27
to 28 April 2024.
Indian Heritage Centre
5 Campbell Lane
Singapore 209924
Yours sincerely,
Daryl
p.s. there was no actual kueh. I was looking forward to some kueh to satisfy my sweet cravings. Other than that disappointment, this looks like a good event to get to learn more about the Malay heritage and culture!
