JASIN: A mother’s challenge to her eight children to decorate their family house with lanterns, lamps and Hari Raya Aidilfitri decorations using used and recycled materials to enliven the Syawal celebration earned her first prize in a Jasin parliamentary level competition.
Hazlina Ibrahim, 39, said she and her siblings agreed to decorate the place after accepting a challenge from their mother Asiah Mohamad, 66, who wanted her children to band together and display their respective creativity in portraying the spirit of Ramadan and Aidilfitri that had long been a tradition in communities.
“We were informed of ‘Pelita Raya dan Lampu Hiasan’, a competition organised by the Jasin UMNO Division, during the middle of the fasting month, so we eight siblings decided to come together to work on the decorations.
“We also agreed to share the capital of about RM1,000 to buy the decorations such as lamps and ornaments. We wanted to make our mother’s wish come true, Each of us was given tasks to complete,” she told Bernama when met at the family house in Kampung Paya Lengkung, Merlimau Pasir here.
Hazlina, who is the fourth among the siblings, said they worked with used and recycled items such as boxes, wood, aluminium, and bamboo to prepare the decorations that included gates, huts, replica of ketupat as well as traditional Malay houses, giant lamps, lanterns and cannons made from paint barrels.
She said doing such decorations had also been done in previous years besides doing other activities like making dodol together with their close neighbours a week before Syawal.
Meanwhile, Razman Ibrahim, 35, who is the sixth in the family, said he and his siblings took only a week to prepare all the decorations for their parents’ house and surroundings.
According to him, although his main task was to come up with ideas for the decorations, they shared their opinions to achieve the best decorations to create the festive air for Aidilfitri.
“Most of the heavy work like finding bamboo and making the giant replicas were done by the male siblings while his sisters helped with painting and decorating the yard. All the tasks of preparing the decorations were done until late into the night,” he said.
Asiah also said this family tradition can indirectly strengthen the bond between her children as they cooperate with each other and are happy to do the activity.
“I love to enter competitions like this and we have also participated in similar competitions in conjunction with the National Day celebration but this is the first time our family has won first place.
“However, what is more important is that we as a family enjoy being able to enliven the Hari Raya atmosphere and can get together with family. I hope that this tradition can be maintained in the future,” she added. – BERNAMA
