KUALA LUMPUR: When it comes to festivities, especially if celebrated here in Malaysia, we normally associate it with balik kampung or going back to our hometowns.

Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Aidiladha, for example, will not be complete if not celebrated with our families at the kampung.

These days, it is fad where more and more Malaysians are opting to celebrate the festive season whilst holidaying overseas. This might not sound new, but it is definitely an increasing trend.

Celebrating Hari Raya overseas

For Amylia Soraya Aminuddin, 26 and family celebrating the Hari Raya overseas has been a routine since five years ago. Amylia is the product of a mixed-marriage – her father is Malay, and her mother is a Chinese convert – therefore, her family would opt to celebrate Hari Raya with her father's family.

However, when her grandparents both passed away about five years ago, her family couldn’t face the loss of two of their loved ones, and to celebrate Hari Raya at her grandparents’ house proved to be too painful.


To cope with their loss, they decided to pack their bags to go on a holiday overseas during Hari Raya.

“The loss of both my grandparents left a really sad feeling in all of us and we miss them so dearly. Going back to my grandparents’ house reminds us of all the memories with them, so we decided to celebrate Hari Raya overseas for the first time,” Amylia said.

Since then, Amylia and her family decided that celebrating Hari Raya overseas is quite enjoyable as it was a new experience for them. So from that year on, it has become their “new tradition” to plan a getaway for Hari Raya each year.




To date, they have been to a few countries like Thailand, South Korea and Hong Kong for Hari Raya.

“This year, we made plans to go to Sri Lanka. However, it has to be cancelled as my twin sister has to work during Hari Raya. But not to worry, we already make plans for next year’s Hari Raya, in which we plan to go to Europe!

“A few of my relatives are currently in the United Kingdom and France, so we plan to visit them there and celebrate Hari Raya together,” gushed Amylia.




Raya is all about nostalgia

According to Amylia, celebrating Hari Raya overseas is more relaxing because there are no traffic rushing to ‘balik kampung’, and they don’t have to busy themselves with the Hari Raya preparations such as decorating the house, cooking, and hosting the guests.

They would normally spend the long break to visit different places and tourist attractions in the different countries they go to.

However, Amylia admitted that sometimes she finds herself missing celebrating the festivities in the kampung.

“My family and I sometimes miss the nostalgic feeling;  the feeling of celebrating Hari Raya as we used to a long time ago – you know, wearing our ‘baju raya’ and cooking and visiting our relatives and friends, and gosh, the food!

“At times, we can’t help but celebrate the first day of Eid here in our home, and then by the second day of Hari Raya we will depart to our vacation destination,” Amylia said.


Becoming more popular

According to Amylia, her relatives now also practice the same tradition to celebrate Hari Raya elsewhere. So they will all congregate on the first day of Eid, and on the second day they all depart to their vacation destinations.



Amylia added that some of her friends have also opted the practice, and it is fast becoming popular especially amongst young couples, or even those who have large families and want a different experience.

But no matter what, to Amylia, our tradition is still the most important thing, and surely every Hari Raya, she finds herself thinking of the memories of celebrating Hari Raya at her grandparents’ house and what a nostalgic feeling it gives her everytime.