...... Saturday the thirteen is the last day of fasting, the grandchildren were all here with their mom and dad...They are staying at our home tonight and would celebrate the Aidil Fitri together... It is always fun to have all those kids around the house....They got themselves organized and with their mom and dad start to make the 'ketupat' [container make from coconut leaves, intricately woven, to put in rice and then boiled to cook] when boiled the rice would be mash together and turn semi solid, this when ready, could be cut into rice cube, a specialty that a Hari Raya could not do without and it is eaten with the 'rendang', The 'Rendang' is Beef or chicken cooked with herb in coconut milk,a specialty of the Malay, a traditional dish that had been pass from generation to generation... A Hari Raya or the Aidil Fitri is never complete without the ' Ketupat and Rendang ' Having the grandchildren with their parent at our home is a Godsend happiness that only those with grandchildren would understand.... A sorts of a bonus to us in our golden age...It brighten the home with their presence and as they grew up, like our grandchildren...They began to help in getting things organized...Like today they together help to prepare the 'ketupat', from making the container to getting it cook...It take four hours of boiling to cook this traditional 'ketupat'...Someone had to wait and add boiling water from time to time to see that the 'ketupat' is cooked and well done. An extra hands are always helpful... And then the young one would play around careless of the world and keep wondering what is all the fuss about this things call 'Hari Raya' or the Aidil Fitri Festival.... It is real interesting to see this tiny tots trying to get the rice grains into the container, with the help of their grandmother...Making the process slow, but then it does not matter, this is part of the education and training of the young on the concept of making this traditional food, that is so special to us Malay...For the Ketupat and Rendang is synonymous with our 'Hari Raya'....It is our tradition and we are going to see that it is pass to the next generation despite the onslaught of new foods that are prepared for the 'Hari Raya'. And from the look of it our grandchildren are taken to it and soon when they grew up they would surely continue to make these 'ketupat' and 'rendang' comes the 'Hari Raya' in the years to come.... We start to boil the 'ketupat' at three in the afternoon and it would only cook well after at least four hours of boiling, that means it would only be ready at just past seven in the evening...Just before the breaking of the fast on this last day of Fasting....It look it is going to be perfect and come the time to look at it at just past seven..It is indeed well done... And thanks to the collective efforts....Our 'ketupat' is a family project well conceived and the result that some fifty or so 'ketupat' are ready to be served for tomorrow Aidil Fitri.... I am indeed happy that our grandchildren has began to learn to understand the concept of this traditional food and the process of making it like we did, our parent did it in their days and so are our ancestors in the years gone bye....That is our tradition and as the saying goes 'tradition dies hard' and in this case we are sure not going to allow it to dies but to continue to make it alive in our culture, a refine tradition of preparing food, a specialties that had been with us Malay for thousand of years......The tradition of preparing the " Ketupat and Rendang " ..Just after the breaking of Fast...The young of the grandchildren ask for their 'ketupat' and wonder what it look like when it is cooked....Grandma and Grandpa say that it takes four hours to cook....They wonder in their little mind what's so special about this 'ketupat'!! ....And soon they are going to discover the magic of turning small grain of rice into something much different, turning the rice grains into a semi solid food, that now could be cut into small cube to be eaten with the'rendang'. Grandma gave them the cube of ketupat to taste, they were rather amused to eat and then I supposed they keep wondering in their little mind...This memory would be embedded in their mind forever and they would surely remember the taste of that white rice cube of ketupat that they had contribute in the making of it, the ketupat and now they had their taste of this traditional food...This is the beginning and I am sure this tradition would continue forever in the Malay Culture....