Terengganu Festivals ( Hari Raya Haji / Korban )

Hari Raya Haji /Korban

Hari Raya Korban Aidil Adha or more commonly called Hari Raya Haji, is the celebration that marks the end of pilgrimage rites in Mecca where Muslims from all over the world will gather and fulfill their fifth pillar of the Muslim faith. After the pilgrim, the men will be given Haji as the title in front of their name whereas Hajjah for women.
Hari Raya Haji falls on the 10th of the 12th month in Islamic lunar calendar which was the day where Adam and Hawa came from the heaven and made their trip to the earth before they met each other in Arafah. This celebration day will start with prayer in the morning followed by the sacrifices of sheep at the mosque. The Sacrifices are made to commemorate the prophet Abraham's test of faith by the Allah when he was asked to sacrifice his son, Ismail. Today this sacrifices will then distributed among the poor and the relatives.
Hari Raya Haji is of little different from Hari Raya Aildifitri. It is normally quite and people celebrate by enjoying the feast with the family and it celebrates for one day.

Terengganu Festivals ( Hari Raya )

Hari Raya

The 30 days month-long fasting during the Ramadan ends and celebrates with the Hari Raya Puasa or Hari Raya Aidilfitri. There are two methods to determine the fall of Hari Raya Aidilfitri: following the sign of the new moon (Rukyah) or based on the astronomical calculation. (Falak). In Terengganu, Muslims adopted the first method and this is always done in Merang.
Besides spring cleaning, the house will be decorated with the lighting of oil lamps at the surrounding compound as to welcome the angels which is believed to be visiting during the seven days preceding the festival. So, the first day of the Hari Raya Aidilfitri always starts with prayer in the morning in mosque then the zakat giving, i.e. to donate money to the mosque as to support the poor and the mosque. This will followed by a visiting to the ancestors’ graves.
This celebration lasts for a month but the is concentrated in the first three days. During these few days, there will always be open-house as to welcome visitors from all races regardless whether you know the owner. Visitors will be served with different type of favorite dishes such as ketupat, beef rending and cookies.
Hari Raya Aidilfitri always bears with full meaning of thanks giving and forgiving. The Muslims offer their thanks to God and the elders meanwhile also request to be forgiven for all their wrong doing in the past. Hari Raya Aidilfitri is not only purely a religion celebration instead also to unite as a family with of love, understanding, blessings, forgiveness and also the spirit of harmonious among the races in the country.