Okay, so it's not quite an enchanted doorway nor is that a nymph but close enough eh? My baby sister is gorgeous enough to be one anyway. :)
It's common among the Muslims here to decorate their windows with flickering lights for the festive Eid/Hari Raya season. Since we mostly stay in flats, one can practically see lighted up flats during this season. I'm not really keen on the practice since it's more a Malay tradition rather than an Islamic one but this year I conceded with the plan.
It's common among the Muslims here to decorate their windows with flickering lights for the festive Eid/Hari Raya season. Since we mostly stay in flats, one can practically see lighted up flats during this season. I'm not really keen on the practice since it's more a Malay tradition rather than an Islamic one but this year I conceded with the plan.
My sis is also in the middle of a school project that she's doing for IKEA where she is given a budget and asked to make something according to their theme. The item will then be auctioned off for charity but as the deadline is quite a while away, it's become a Hari Raya piece in the house.
Quite a few of the visiting relations have already oooh-ed and aah-ed over it. Incidentally, the clock did not come with the lights. She had painstakingly drilled those in herself - with the help of her former high school teacher, that is. :) Awesome innit?
Quite a few of the visiting relations have already oooh-ed and aah-ed over it. Incidentally, the clock did not come with the lights. She had painstakingly drilled those in herself - with the help of her former high school teacher, that is. :) Awesome innit?
The tradition of lighting up one's windows started from the kampung days - those wooden houses either on stilts or otherwise back in the 60s and beyond - where it was traditional to light oil lamps along the path to your house for the last seven nights of Ramadan.
As times progressed and people moved to flats, the tradition continued with electrical flickering lights. Of course, our neighbours in Malaysia and Brunei still decorate their still existing kampung houses with either the flickering lights and/or the lamps. I do not own any of the following photos but am grateful for them in assisting with my explanation.
As times progressed and people moved to flats, the tradition continued with electrical flickering lights. Of course, our neighbours in Malaysia and Brunei still decorate their still existing kampung houses with either the flickering lights and/or the lamps. I do not own any of the following photos but am grateful for them in assisting with my explanation.
A typical kampung house back in those days
The lighted path
A closer look at the lamp (pelita)
A Malaysian house decorated with both
Now in Singapore, we just use the flickering lights. Even the whole stretch of Geylang Serai, where the annual Ramadan/Hari Raya bazaar is held, is lighted up. Again, I do not own these photos but they are wicked cool!
2 comments:
wow, that looks very festive!
and your sis did an excelent job on that clock!
interesting article. I would love to follow you on twitter.
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