Another raya story… Of competition and engagement

I was invited to celebrate raya in Kudat with some friends recently, and after much contemplation, I decided to attend it as I’ve never celebrated raya there before and was very curious on how the folks there celebrate.

Turned out I got more than what I’d bargained for. In fact, the trip turned out to be very amusing indeed. And interesting, of course.

When we reached the village, a blast of raya songs greeted our group. A tent was already erected on the small field encircled by the houses, where underneath it a group of adults and children were singing raya songs karaoke. We were told later that it was a preparation for an upcoming competition.

Competition?

We were ushered into the house of my friend’s relatives, and a huge spread was already waiting for us. Turned out that not only there was the competition preparation, but also an engagement was occupying the time of the villagers. But I was more curious in the detail off the competition than engagement. After milling around among the ladies who were stirring huge pots of food, including my favourite chicken in satay sauce, one of them disclosed the much sought out info. This competition apparently was held between villages in the area of Sikuati, where the each competed to see which village was the most festive in celebrating raya. So now they were going all out, preparing all sorts of food, rehearsing, cleaning and setting up their compounds etc to receive the judges, one of them being a prominent MP in the area.

Of course I was amused. Back in my hometown, such thing was unheard of. Or maybe they do it somewhere back there in Peninsular. But anyway, this is another thing I can add in my collection of raya memories in Sabah.

So anyway, the engagement. Actually, more like a marriage proposal and engagement planning. Which turned slightly sour when the future groom expressed his discomfort of being surrounded by too many of the other party relatives during the dowry negotiation. I suppose some off the relatives felt snubbed and uninvited as some were seen huffing on the way out. Then my friend’s mother returned home, fuming along the way. Apparently she could not tolerate the future groom any longer after he absurdly slashed the dowry down by half of the requested amount, shocking the whole family. “Whoever heard of RM5000 dowry nowadays” was her greeting words.

With prices of many goods hiking up, RM5000 is indeed too little to fund a wedding reception. Thank goodness the price of petrol is decreasing, but still, the decrease is not that significant back here as once the price of good hikes, they will never come down. So RM5000 is really out of question. I really pity the future bride in this case… such cheapskate guy, 2 years wasted. Too bad …