PhotoAsia Blog

Deepavali, popularly known as the “Festival of Lights”, is celebrated in Malaysia on 13 November this year. Also known as Diwali, the celebration involves the lighting of small clay lamps filled with oil to signify the triumph of good over evil. These lamps are kept on during the night and the Hindu community clean their houses before the festival, both done in order to welcome the goddess, Lakshimi.

Family decorating house with garland of flowers © Pixtal	Rows of lighted oil lamps © Dinodia	Couple holding oil lamps infront of their lighted up home © PhotosIndia
Diwali colors to decorate homes © EasyFotostock	Diyas & flower arrangement for Diwali © Pixtal	Girl holding Arati plate for the festival © age fotostock
Family sitting infront of their completed kolam/rangoli © PhotosIndia	Woman lighting lamp for the festival © age fotostock	Family lighting oil lamp for Diwali © age fotostock
Variety of cakes for Diwali © age fotostock	Indian delicacies & offerings for Diwali © age fotostock	Mother dressing up daughter for Deepavali © Discpicture

In anticipation of the festival, Hindu homes are cleaned and decorated with kolam placed on floors and walls, traditional oil lamps or colorful electric bulbs to brighten up their abodes to signal the coming festival.

Beside cleaning their homes, the Hindus also prepare themselves by cleansing their bodies and minds. Many devout Hindus fast or observe a strict vegetarian diet, spending many hours during the preceding weeks in prayer and meditation. This is also the time when past quarrels are forgotten and forgiveness extended and granted.

On Deepavali morning, many Hindu devotees awaken before sunrise for the ritual oil bath. For some it is a symbolic affair (to signify purity) while others take full oil baths to remove impurities externally to receive positive energies. Then wearing their new clothes, it is straight to the temples where prayers are held in accordance with the ceremonial rites. The rest of the day is taken up by entertaining their non-Hindu guests, as is customary in Malaysia, by sharing their many delicious Indian delicacies such as sweet meats, rice pudding and the popular murukku.

Months before the actual date of the Mooncake Festival or the lesser used name of Mid-Autumn Festival, everybody in Malaysia is clamouring to buy the sweet delicacy shaped like the moon to savour or to send to friends overseas.

Round mooncakes © Discpicture

The mooncakes are so well-known that a friend who was taking a box of the cakes to her daughter residing in Australia had a humorous encounter with a Customs Officer. When he had to cut open the cake to check as was usual Down Under, he mischievously told my friend, “your mooncake has no moon!” knowing very well that if there was any egg yolk in the mooncakes, they would have been confiscated. The point is that this Australian Custom Officer knew that the mooncakes do come with egg yolks.

Mooncake with egg yolk cut open © age fotostock

Today there are so many varieties of mooncakes with so many different types of filling that you are spoilt for choice. In the early days, the mooncakes were packed in a roll of four pieces in opaque white paper with a simple red square piece of paper stuck to it. Now people buy the mooncakes not only for its unusual sweet filling but also because of their beautiful packaging!

In Malaysia this festival is celebrated not only by the Chinese community but also by the non-Chinese population. The children loved to participate in the lantern processions while the adults celebrate by exchanging mooncakes with friends and family.

Mooncake festival, Kuching, Sarawak © age fotostock	Multi-racial children playing with lanterns © Discpicture	Malay teenagers celebrating Mooncake festival with lanterns © age fotostock

Typical Chinese religious offerings on display on a table © Tan Lian Hock

The older generation still believe in setting up a table of offerings to pray to the moon on the 15th day of the 8th Lunar month. I remembered that soon after the first man landed on the moon, my siblings teased our Mum that she was praying now to Neil Armstrong’s footprint! She of course refused to believe that Neil Armstrong had taken “one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”! Took us children awhile to convince her that  Man has landed on the moon although the truth didn’t stop her from observing the tradition of praying to the full moon every year till she passed on.