"Malam 27 Likur" Ramadhan

Actually I was planning to post this entry earlier but it was postponed due to other family commitments - well it's better late than never....

" Malam 27 Likur" had been celebrated/practiced over the years by the Muslim Malays & it is celebrated on the 27 Ramadhan for the "belief" that 27 Ramadhan night is the Lailatul Qadr night ...

There are several Articles being written on this but I am not going to delve on this issue.

What I knew as a kid then was "Malam 27 Likur" is the last 3 nights when my "laman rumah" was well lit by "lampu pelita" or "panjut". It was nights of joy & carnival like atmosphere where we, the kids would play with "bunga api" while the elders among us would "main mercun" or even "meriam buluh".

I have to mention this - re: my elder brother, Najib Effendi. He's the adventurous type & always do something "different" from the rest of us in the family.

I called him "Endi" and he would be doing this every year when we were celebrating "Malam 27 Likur" in our kampung, Kota Bahru, Gopeng ....

Come "Malam 27 Likur", we would be busy preparing "panjut" - it might be in the form of "lampu pelita" (kerosene aluminium lamp), piles of "tempurung kelapa" in vertical position or "panjut buluh" ... My brother "Endi" would be the leading guy in this preparation ...

Every year - yes every year!!! - Mak would ask Endi why he put up so little panjut at our "laman rumah" and every year my brother would answer " Tak apa Mak .. Tengok la nanti ..."

And every year, our "laman rumah" would miraculously lit up by so many "panjut" especially the last 2 nights - the number of "pelita panjut" would double or triple from the original number.

What happened was this ... Endi & Gang, one of them I could still remember his name @ Salleh would roamed the kampung & took about 1 or 2 "pelita panjut" from each "laman rumah" of the kampung folks. They would then put the "panjut" at our "laman rumah" .... Endi & his gang would only stopped their "operation" once they were satisfied that our "laman rumah" was the brightest & the most well lit in Kg Kota Bahru, Gopeng, Perak!!!!!

The kampung folks knew & were fully aware of this but they just laughed it out - being a simple minded kampung folks and perhaps they were close to my father - he's a teacher there - and my soft spoken Mak...

And I could still remember Mak would every year apologise to the kampung folks & they would every year repled with a smile " Tak apa laa Kak Intan ... Budak - budak nak beraya!!!!" ....

Selamat hari Raya Eidl Fitri ....