KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 — As Muslims prepare to welcome Hari Raya Aidilfitri, now about a week away, the festive atmosphere is becoming increasingly lively.
From home kitchens to markets, various traditional necessities are being prepared, including ketupat casings, an essential component of the iconic dish that is rarely absent during the festive season.
For many, Aidilfitri celebrations would feel incomplete without ketupat wrapped in woven coconut or palm leaves.
The traditional delicacy is usually enjoyed with richly spiced rendang, thick peanut sauce or mildly spiced sayur lodeh, making it a favourite dish among families regardless of age.
However, behind the popularity of this iconic dish, concerns have arisen that the tradition may one day fade away as fewer people, especially among the younger generation, know how to weave ketupat, said Nur Fatin Yasmin Firdaus.
According to the 25-year-old, the current trend sees many people opting to buy ready-made ketupat casings as they are considered more convenient and time-saving compared with weaving them manually, which is often seen as tedious.
“If no one is willing to learn and continue this skill, it may eventually disappear. Yet ketupat is a heritage passed down from our ancestors,” she told Bernama when met at the Ketupat Weaving Workshop held in conjunction with the RIUH Raya Baik Baik programme here recently.
Driven by this concern, Nur Fatin, who is also the founder of Ruang Memoir - a community space that combines a cafe concept with creative events - took the initiative to share the skill through ketupat weaving workshops, giving the public an opportunity to try the traditional craft themselves.
She said many people assume weaving ketupat is difficult to learn, but that perception is not entirely accurate as the preparation process is not as complicated as commonly thought.
“I hope that through this sharing, even if they do not succeed on their first attempt, they will try again. Who knows, one day they may be able to weave their own ketupat when Hari Raya arrives,” she said.
Her interest in the traditional craft began when she was 10 years old, when she frequently watched a canteen operator at her primary school weaving coconut leaves into neat ketupat casings.
“I became curious and wanted to learn because I wondered how two coconut leaves could be transformed into a ketupat casing. So during recess or after school, I would sit and watch the canteen auntie weaving while trying to learn from her,” she said.
Nur Fatin said it took her about two weeks to master the basic techniques of several ketupat weaving styles such as ketupat sate, bawang and jantung, which require precision and patience as even a small mistake can cause the weave to become tangled or unravel.
“At first it was quite difficult because we did not know which part to insert or tuck in. But with frequent practice, the weaving pattern becomes easier to understand and over time the process becomes much simpler,” she said, adding that the satisfaction of seeing a ketupat casing completed with one’s own hands is difficult to put into words.
Meanwhile, workshop participant Ashraf Azahan Mohd Raisham, 24, a barista from Shah Alam, Selangor, said the skill of weaving ketupat should be learned by the younger generation to ensure the tradition continues.
“Ketupat is a traditional dish every Raya. That is why I think young people should learn to make it themselves. Otherwise, in time future generations may no longer know how to weave ketupat,” he said.
He added that ketupat is one of the must-have dishes his family always looks forward to every Aidilfitri morning. — Bernama
