CSbuzz - CS Mobility

ISE0010|2013.10-12
CSbuzz
CS Mobility Monthly Newsletter-Singapore
Singapore offers complete religious freedom and, for each of the four main religions – Buddhism, Islam, Christianity and
Hinduism- we all enjoy a public holiday for some of the major religious festivals. At this time of year, we can celebrate many
occasions. Following September’s Hari Raya Puasa, Mid-Autumn Festival and Lantern Festival, the next three months see
major celebrations for Muslims, Hindus and Christians.
Hari Raya Haji
On October 15th this year, we will have a public holiday to mark Hari Raya Haji, but what does this mean? Hari Raya Haji
is also known as the festival of sacrifice and commemorates the Prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son, Ismail,
in obedience to Allah, but Allah was moved and a ram appeared in Ismail’s place for sacrifice. Nowadays, on the 10th day
of the month of Dhul Hijia, it is observed as a public holiday in Asian countries such as Singapore and Malaysia.
One of the five pillars of Islam is that every Muslim who is physically able and has the financial means, must perform
the Haj at least once in his lifetime: Every year, approximately 2.5 million Muslims make the pilgrimage to the Ka’aba in
Mecca, Saudi Arabia for the Haj. On the pilgrimage, Muslims encircle the Ka’aba (this action is known as Tawaf) seven
times, anticlockwise offering prayers. The Hajj is a wonderful shared experience of faith and brotherhood.
There are various celebrations and special prayers on this day. Throughout the world, male volunteers at various mosques
perform the sacrificial slaughtering of camels, cows or sheep after the Hari Raya Haji prayers. The meat is then distributed
to the community, where special attention is given to the poor and needy.
After the ceremony, people visit family and friends and share meals. Kampong Glam and Geylang Serai will be colourfully
ornamented with decorations and with many stalls.
Rangoli
During Deepavali, the entrances
and courtyards of houses will be
decorated with Rangoli, which
welcome the Hindu deities, like the
goddess Lakshmi, to bring good luck
into the homes. This is a 5,000 year
old tradition; a type of folk art, usually created by women,
using coloured chalk, powders, sand and petals, and sometimes
incorporating oil lamps or flowers into the design. Many designs
will have simple geometric shapes, but they often depict
peacocks or Hindu deities.
The Ka’aba
The Ka’aba is the focus point in the Hajj, it is
also the direction in which Muslims face for
their prayers, five times each day.
The Ka’aba is the huge, cube-shaped
structure which stands in the centre of the
quadrangle at the Sacred Mosque in Meccathe biggest mosque in the world. The Quran
says that the Ka’aba is the first House of God, built by Ibrahim for
the worship of the One God, representing the sacredness and
security of Mecca, and symbolizing uniformity and devotion to
the One God. Each year it is covered with a new black cloth with
verses from the Quran inscribed on it.
Deepavali (Diwali)
Deepavali is the Hindu Festival of Light, celebrating the triumph of light over darkness (good over evil). It is a five day
festival marking the Hindu New Year.
Singapore marks the main festival day on Saturday 2nd November as a public holiday, on which the Indian communities
light lamps and candles, and place them in their doorways in a row to signify the literal meaning of the word Deepa-avali
which translates as ‘Row of Lights’. In mythology, Diwali commemorates the return of Lord Rama along with his wife and
brother from a 14 year exile, after vanquishing the demon king, Ravana. In joyous celebration of the return of their King,
the people illuminated the kingdom with oil lamps and burst crackers. This tradition continues till today.
The Deepavali celebrations in Singapore are always bright and beautiful, with thousands of glittering lights lining Serangoon
Rd, and traditional bazaars to set the festive mood.
Get into the Diwali spirit: have your hand henna painted with traditional artwork at the Campbell Lane bazaar off
Serangoon Road, and walk or drive up Serangoon Road in the evening, to enjoy the lights.
CONSIDER IT SETTLED
Christmas in Singapore
Christmas is the Christian celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ,
the son of God, in a stable in Bethlehem. In the preceding weeks,
homes will be decorated with lights and a Christmas tree, and
sometimes a Nativity scene. On the evening of 24th of December
many Christians will go to church to celebrate Midnight Mass. On
25th December, they will enjoy a traditional meal and exchange
gifts with their families. Celebratory songs (carols) will be sung
in churches and special carol concerts – as well as in most
supermarkets and malls.
Santa Claus is not a religious figure, but is a magical person credited with
bringing gifts for well-behaved children around the world, to celebrate this
special date.
Frozen turkeys are readily available in the big supermarkets, but
if you’re looking for a fresh turkey, it’s a good idea to order it
early from your local butcher. Alternatively, the big hotels have
wonderful Christmas brunches – sometimes with free-flow
champagne!
THE FOODIE
Singapore will be decorated from Tanglin Mall to Suntec, with beautiful colourful lights, and the malls on Orchard Road
will compete in their Christmas decorations, which will remain until early January.
And if you’re missing snow, there are a couple of options: Snow City is Singapore’s permanent indoor snow centre,
(www.snowcity.com.sg)- and Tanglin Mall usually has a snow show outside the mall (junction of Tanglin Road and Grange
Road). Children can play in the flurries of ‘snow’ which are scheduled to fall on weekday evenings and two snowfalls on
weekends. In December you should be able to find the times of the snow show on the website www,tanglinmall.com.sg
In your time in Singapore, you will almost certainly see little stores selling vibrantly coloured kueh (cake). So what are the
favourites; what are they made of; and what makes the colours so bright?
Many of the desserts contain…
Pulut: glutinous rice- sometimes coloured with Bunga Telang, a blue pea
flower, which gives a very natural ‘blue’ colour,
Gula Melaka: a palm sugar, important in Peranakan cooking generally,
not just desserts,
Kaya: a coconut jam made from coconut milk and eggs, traditionally
flavoured with pandan leaf – kaya was created as a local spread to
replace the western jams loved by the British. You may have tried Kaya
toast, which is credited to the Hainanese.
Some are coated in grated coconut.
There are many gelatinous desserts (Agar Agar) sometimes combined with the sago or pulut, often in multiple vibrant
colours and sometimes with the beans etc. of chendol. The most surprising colour is the almost neon green which seems
unnatural, but which in fact comes from the Pandan leaf. Pandan is used in savoury meals as well as desserts, and while
growing it has a distinctive and pleasingly sweet scent. Pandan is also seen in the delightfully light chiffon cake.
The other major kueh is kueh lapis (literally ‘layer cake’). It is made up of many fine layers, cooked individually, then
assembled, so it is obviously a time-consuming process.
Kueh
VIRTUAL TRAVELLER
Sri Lanka
This year, my family decided to
combine a cultural holiday with
a little bit of beach. After the late
evening flight to Colombo we
stayed overnight at nearby Negombo
and, in the morning, met up with the
driver recommended by our friends.
After a bumpy and arduous drive to
Seegiriya, we celebrated my husband’s
birthday by staying overnight at a gorgeous place by a lake. We enjoyed our
visit to the castle on a rock at Dambulla: We should have gone earlier – or in
Winter - it was already hot at 10 a.m! My daughter particularly loved the “Princesses’ Pool” and we tired the children by
walking up the hill, but avoided the rickety staircase at the top.
The following day we visited the Hindu temple caves at Seegiriya – our driver took a short cut, thus we avoided most of the
thousand steps we should have climbed to reach the caves. Inside the dark caves were Buddhas and ancient paintings.
On our way to Kandy we stopped at a Spice Bar, for a fascinating demonstration of the local spices, before enjoying a lunch
made from their own produce. We all enjoyed a local dance show and firewalking - it was like stepping back in time. We
looked over the town from the rooftop bars. The highlights in Kandy were the Buddha Relic Museum and the day trip to
the Elephant Sanctuary, where we had a one hour ride on the elephants, and my children loved feeding fruit to them from
a platform, so it was worth the windy, bumpy trip to get there. We escaped the hustle and bustle of the city at the Botanic
Gardens in Kandy, which was very interesting, with big bats flying around.
Nuwara Eliya is the highest town in the tea-growing hill country, and the cooler temperature was very welcome! It
seemed strange that the architecture of its guest houses, post office and public buildings made it look like a quaint old
English village and we rather wished we had stayed overnight .
Then we drove to Ella and enjoyed a coffee and the view of the famous Ella gap, at this popular rock climbing area – before
driving to a funny little hotel at Tangallle on the coast. The beaches had coarse yellow sand and waves were dumping in,
so it was not suitable for swimming or for surfing. At Galle, we went to the Dutch church, walked around walls of the fort
and saw the famous cricket ground (which was more exciting for my husband than for the children and I!)
In the Galle area, we were surprised to see the devastation from the tsunami around the southern tip of Sri Lanka. It was
quite eerie to drive along a road, seeing just a chimney or a fence where there had once been en entire village. We visited
the turtle sanctuary which had been rebuilt after the tsunami.
On the last day we took a little boat trip to a bay where the children could snorkel, and where there was a small restaurant
on the beach.
**Before making any travel arrangements, it is advisable to check with your Embassy for Travel Advisories.
Did you know...
Seletar
Nowadays, travelling to town from Seletar in the north
of Singapore is simple – by car, it’s 20 minutes straight
down the CTE - by public transport, it’s a bus to Yio Chu
Kang station and a 15 minute MRT ride into Orchard. So I
can’t help but feel sorry for the residents of the area until
the early 20th century – they had to travel by boat up the
Seletar River into the Straits of Johore to the east coast
of the island before reaching town! In fact, this explains
the name – the Malay word Selita means “leading to the
Straits”.
Tanjong Pagar
A literal translation of the Malay words tells us that Tanjong
Pagar means ‘cape of stakes’. One old local legend claims that
at one time the fishermen in the area were being attacked
by shoals of flying swordfish, so a young local boy suggested
erecting a barricade of sharpened banana stems. It worked
and the swordfish were either impaled or trapped by their
long flat bills, so the problem was solved.
An alternative explanation for ‘cape of stakes’ is a reference
to the kelongs (constructions for fishermen to live in and fish
from) which were built with wooden stakes;
But was this the original name? On the 1836 map, the area
was marked as Tanjong Passar – (perhaps a corruption of
Tanjong Pasir, which means ‘cape of sand’ in Malay).
CONSIDER IT SETTLED
WRITER’S BLOCK
Big Foot sighted in Singapore!
I am not a Sasquatch (Big Foot); my European size 40 feet are the right size for my 5’9” height. However, these
are unusual dimensions in Singapore.
Although there are plenty of shoe stores that do stock larger sizes, most seem to stop at size 39! Somehow
it seems more disappointing to be just one size too big, than if I were looking for a lot bigger. However, this
does mean that when I ask for my size, the sales assistant will disappear into the stock room for five to ten
minutes and, just as I’m ready to give up, return with a box (the sight of which gets me excited) and the words
(which make my heart sink), “The largest size we have is 39, would you like to try it?” This is puzzling – I had
asked for a size 40, because that is my size – a size 39 will be too small. If I could get into a 39, I would have
asked for it, as it would give me more choices anyway. Personally, I feel that however fabulous and sexy my
shoes, they have to be comfortable because I plan to walk in them! Now I know that some women will ask
for a size smaller than they need, rather than admit to their real size, but how many women can fit their feet
into a size smaller than they admit to? (Image of the Ugly Sisters trying Cinderella’s shoe come to mind!) I
know the assistant is trying to be helpful, but since I am sure there are very few women who would try on the
smaller shoes, she has wasted her time bringing out a box with the wrong size, and now she has to return the
box unopened.
But as frustrating as this is, I console myself with the fact that I have managed to find some really great shoes
in Singapore – in spite of apparently being a Sasquatch!
**The opinions expressed in the Writer’s Block Column are not necessarily those of CS Mobility.
CS Mobility Event –
Singapore River Walk
On Saturday 14th September, twelve of us met for the CS Mobility Singapore River Tour. Our guide, Shamla, explained
the importance of the river to Singapore right from its earliest days, describing the trading carried out there; the samsui
women, who worked carrying goods on poles and lived under the bridges; the history of the different bridges; and how
people exchanged stories and folklore at Read Bridge. She explained how the arrival of Sir Stamford Raffles in 1819
changed the whole area. We saw Parliament House and the new Supreme Court building and learned that the Fullerton
Hotel was Singapore’s first Post Office. At the mouth of the river, Shamla explained about the Merlion and the importance of the port and water to Singapore. We’re looking forward to the next tour.
Event heads up:
Coming Up in October
On 3rd October, together with Presto Expat, we present
Getting on The Road, a workshop designed to prepare
you for the Basic Theory driving test, addressing the process, the tricks and traps, the complicated bits and the
regularly occurring questions.
On 10th October, we will have a Culture Shock coffee, explaining what culture shock is, facing the challenges and
how to get through the difficult times. This is a great
chance to meet other newcomers.
On 9th November, we explore the planning of Singapore’s physical development, from the early days, and
looking into the future, with our visit to the Urban Redevelopment Authority’s fascinating City Gallery.
For these and other future events, look out for the EDM
or contact Avalone at [email protected]
or 6731 8101. Please let Avalone know if you would like
to explore another part of Singapore - cultural or historical - or if there is another workshop that would interest
you.
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