Raya comes early: M’sians rush home, make last-minute preparations

PETALING JAYA: After two years of waiting to celebrate Hari Raya Aidilfitri with their families since the pandemic began, Malaysians were caught by surprise that the festival was set to come one day early instead of the anticipated date of May 3.

From the moment the Keeper of the Rulers’ Seal announced that this year’s Hari Raya would fall on Monday (May 2), many rushed to get their Raya prep done ahead of time.

Malaysians took to social media and reacted with initial disbelief before seeing the funnier side of the situation.

“WEHH ESOK RAYAAA. Jom panik berjemaah!! (Tomorrow is Raya, let’s all panic in unison),” tweeted @khairulaming shortly after the announcement on Sunday (May 1) night.

“Esok official raya, tapi boleh tak satu Malaysia kawtim kita raya lusa je, rendang tak masak lagi ni (Tomorrow is officially Raya, but can we all in Malaysia just decide to celebrate it a day later, we have not even cooked the rendang yet),” replied another Twitter user, @Muhamma85497978.

User @NizamArif_ posted a photo of weaved ketupat leaves with the caption “Baru nk isi beras. Kabut kabut (Just about to fill it with rice. Rushing)”.

“I have not even got my hair cut yet,” added @MatDannny.

Even fashion icon and entrepreneur Datin Vivy Yusof got in on the action, with a funny video post on her Instagram about the hustle and bustle of being unprepared for Raya with a caption that included a teary emoji, “You like maggi right, @fadzaanuar? #rayaesokguys”, addressing her husband.

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A post shared by Vivy Yusof (@vivyyusof)

Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein also took note of the unexpected rush by Malaysians to prepare for the festival in a semi-humorous Raya greeting on Twitter.

“Confirmed! Tomorrow we celebrate Aidilfitri. But maybe some are still on their way back to the village. Probably many have not started baking lemang, cooking ketupat and rendang. Let’s all be ‘busy’ in the kitchen tonight,” he said ending the tweet with a smiling emoji.

Naturally, Malaysian social media was also filled with funny memes about the surprise announcement. Below are a select few.

Time to assemble

The Amazing Rendang Race

Did April Fools come a month late?

MGAG’s Spongebob meme