Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri - 2011

The fasting month of Ramadan is now over and the Muslim celebration of Hari Raya is here.  For those of us living in Brunei the start of Hari Raya is always a little uncertain as it's dependent on the moon being sighted on one particular evening.  If it's seen then Hari Raya begins, if it's not then Hari Raya will begin the following evening.

We were in a restaurant in town last night when the announcement was made - the moon had been spotted, so the parties could begin.  We may not be Muslim, but we were celebrating too... we get 2 days off work! We'll go back to work on Friday, but as it's an early finish at school every Friday (11:45am) I don't mind at all.

One of the lovely aspects of Hari Raya, public holidays aside, is the custom of hosting an 'Open House' (about which I blogged last year).  This afternoon we went to our first Open House of the season, held at the house of the grandparents of one of the girls in my new class.  We were greeted with open arms, fed some wonderful food, and left my lovely pupil with a big smile on her face, delighted that her teacher had come to her party!  I'm glad we went.

I wish I could say I'd made these cute cupcakes, but the image is courtesy of this site.