What Aidilfitri really means to us

LETTER | To me, celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri means meeting rarely seen people, especially bloodline relatives, who only find my home during Aidilfitri.

In other words, Aidilfitri is about meeting people whom we used to closely know when we were younger - the same people who are now different in their characters, maturities, richnesses, fashion styles and maybe, political sentiments.

But, the people’s differences are what make Aidilfitri a “celebration for all”.

Like we always say, Aidilfitri is the best time for everyone to meet and greet. We need no special passes to do that. We just need an invisible thing called “sincerity”.

I, personally, have one thing that I hate: visitors, especially relatives, who don’t mingle with us, the host. They only ‘talk’ to their phones, and simply ignore the value of visiting - reconnecting what has been missed.

Being connected in terms of human relationships is what we must wish for every time we celebrate the meaningful Aidilfitri. If we miss doing it, our Aidilfitri would be no different from our normal days.

When we were small, immature children, we didn’t see and feel the greatness of engaging with people during Hari Raya. We only aimed for Duit Raya as much as we aimed for our collection.

As time flies and we are growing bigger and older, being with relatives and long-time-no-see friends over traditional Hari Raya foods like rendang and ketupat served on the table is just what we really want.

We no longer need Duit Raya like our nephews, nieces and own kids do. We just need to be in an ambience that surrounds us with people we have been really wanting to meet.

Aidilfitri is not just a festival. It’s the best day for everyone to reconnect and importantly, express gratefulnesses to The Merciful for granting us the strengths to undergo the one month of fasting.

So, to the rest, what’s your Aidilfitri wish for this year?

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.