How do Malay people celebrate birthdays??
Actually, Malay people do not celebrate birthdays with cakes and presents like other cultures. The real way they celebrate it is by just making a gathering,not a party, at home and say prayers together for the good blessings in the future of that person and later served dishes and drinks to the guests. This was originally brought up by the Middle East,the Arab people who came to Malaysia to make deals in the era of Sultan Melaka. Eventually, lived here and even some of them married the Malays. By that, Malays are influenced by Arabs traditional culture.
Description of my brithday card..
I changed the three elements(the muffins) to a more malay cultural elements which is the traditional instruments, tambourine and 'kompang'(on the left side) , 'pulut kuning'(center) and 'ang pao'(on the right side). and what are they?...
Kompang is one of Malays popular traditional musical instrument.the skin of the kompang is made by goat skin and it was originally came from the Middle East.The way to play the kompang is by thumping it with fingers or palm.Kompang is usually used for a certain traditional ceremony and one of them is when celebrating birthdays. The tambourine also is brought up from the Middle East,Persian. The tambourine or Marine is a musical instrument of the percussion family consisting of a frame, often of wood or plastic, with pairs of small metal jingles, called "zils". Classically the term tambourine denotes an instrument with a drumhead. Which is also played in special ceremony or celebration of birthday. These have influenced Malays for many years and till now they still play these instruments in celebration and special ceremonies.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tambourine)
(https://musiciselementary.com/images/4906%2010inchHeadlessTambourine%20.jpg)
(www.cyloong.com/Multicultural/Kompang2.jpg)
'Pulut' means a glutinous rice and 'kuning' is yellow. In the older days, one of the ingredient which could be made as food coloring was turmeric. The 'pulut' changed to a yellowish color because it is soaked in turmeric water. The color yellow was believed to be very inviting and joyful to be served to the guests. It is also a custom in religious ceremony. Without the giving of 'pulut kuning', the ceremony will not be perfect. Likewise in birthday celebration, the 'pulut kuning' will be decorated nicely and made in different shapes and sizes, yet in the present day, there are not many people who celebrate birthday with 'pulut kuning' but it is still made for religious ritual ceremony like the completion of reciting the Qur'an.
(http://www.cybermelayu.com/newriang/budaya/BUDAYA_33/index.htm)
(http://img28.picoodle.com/img/img28/4/6/25/f_pulutm_d7268af.jpg)
Ang Pao is packets filled with money,a tradition which originated from the Chinese. It is a monetary gift which is given during holidays or special occasions. Mainly presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or on holidays such as the Lunar New Year. Since Malaysia is a multi-cultural country, Malays are also influenced by the Chinese traditional culture like giving Ang Pao in special occasions, such as Hari Raya, weddings and also in birthday celebrations. This is considered as a common tradition in Malaysia and is still practice until now.
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_packet)
(http://menangprint.com.my/pro_02.html)
The colors
The 3 elements are made colorful and earthy tone to show the look of a Malay culture which blends in birthday celebration in the modern days. I made the background of a soft pink and olive greeen to show happiness and sheer joy in celebrating birthdays.
The birthday song
The text 'Allah selamatkan kamu!' is meant by 'may god bless u' which is a song sing by Malays in birthday celebration,it goes like this "ALLAH SELAMATKAN KAMU, ALLAH SELAMATKAN KAMU, ALLAH SELAMATKAN 'name of the person', ALLAH SELAMATKAN KAMU", which is pretty much like repeating back the sentences.heh.
