Costume Rental During Celebrations
What do you think cultural diversity and costume rental have in common? In Malaysia, we are blessed as the different races are encouraged to keep their ethnic names and their languages, to practise their respective religions as well as to embrace not only their own cultures, but fellow natives’ as well. In order for you to do that, you have to be a part of them to show that you respect and appreciate the celebration or tradition they have.
When you assimilate with their culture, it is actually a sign of respect and good manner towards them. An easy way to achieve that is by wearing their traditional costume during the celebration. In that case, you should try costume rental instead of buying one every year. But before that, let’s jump on the cultural diversity that we have in Malaysia.
Why is it Unique?
In the sense of culture, Malaysia is on another level. You will see multi-cultural aspects everywhere you look. People of different religions and backgrounds mix easily together, respect and live with each other peacefully. The outcome is a spectacular mix of people, food, traditions and culture.
All this has contributed to create a vibrant multicultural society. This is especially obvious during any festival, as all Malaysians love to take any excuse to celebrate! Malaysia has some of the most public holidays in Asia, thanks to the multitude of holy or cultural festivals celebrated by the variety of cultures in the country.
The Range of Celebrations
If you are a culture enthusiast, Malaysia is the perfect travel destination that will fascinate you with its various festivities. Malays, Indians and Chinese along with indigenous people make up the demographics, and each has their own customs, traditions and celebrations.
Here are some of the widely celebrated festivals in Malaysia:
#1 Hari Raya Aidilfitri
One of the biggest celebrations in Malaysia. It marks the end of Ramadan, a fasting month for the Muslims. Celebrated as a two-day nationwide holiday in Malaysia, it is usual for some Muslim families to host an open house where they welcome neighbours and members of the community into their house to join in the celebrations.
Signature foods for this celebration include ketupat, lemang, rendang and a variety of Kuih Raya! Traditional wear would be Baju Melayu for men and Baju Kurung, Kebaya or Jubah for women.
Celebrated by Chinese, this is the time of the year to expect fireworks, the prominence of red, open houses with delicious Chinese meals to relish in and lion dances or people dressing in costumes to perform ritualist dances for good luck and to chase evil spirits away. Chinese New Year is always associated with the color red and because it is corresponding with fire, symbolizes good fortune and joy
Giving red packets or ang pao or ang pow containing money is probably one of the greatest things about Chinese New Year too!
#2 Chinese New Year
#3 Deepavali
Also commonly referred to as Diwali in India or Festival of Lights, the festival is significant to all Hindus as it symbolises the triumph of good over evil. Oil lamps are lit to ward off darkness and evil.
What do you love most about Christmas? For us, it’s the decorations and crazy shopping deals for all! People celebrate Christmas a little differently in Malaysia. They will clean the house, decorate their homes with Christmas decorations and trees as well as bake Christmas cookies and cakes. Some might also dress up in a Santa Claus costume and giving presents to the kids.
On Christmas Eve, all family members will gather together for dinner and the countdown to Christmas Day. They will unwrap gifts when the clock strikes 12.
#4 Christmas
Dress up the best way you can!
The fun part of living in a multicultural environment is that even if you are not part of the race, you can still celebrate it with your friends or colleagues who are from different cultures.
To enjoy and feel the celebration better, put on the traditional costume or what they usually wear during that festival. Aside from showing respect, you can also avoid people from staring at you in case they find it disrespectful and you get to be confident interacting with those who celebrate the event. This is when costume rental plays it role.
What to Wear?
Each celebration has their own traditional costume worn to indicate the cultural identity. For example, we have Kebaya during Hari Raya and Cheongsam during Chinese New Year.
It’s always confusing to figure out what to wear to them. What you wear to any of these occasions depends solely on the celebration itself. Thus, when you are invited to their house to celebrate it, it is best for you to wear an appropriate traditional costume that matches the celebration.
To put an end to the what-do-I-wear dilemma once and for all, this is the correct time for you to do costume rental at any shop or platform like RentSmart that provides the service and dress up on those stunning Cheongsam rental or Jubah rental
Save the Cost
The best part is when you actually calculate the normal price of a Cheongsam and the price for a rental, you can save up to 47% of your money by renting it! Not to mention that these celebrations are only celebrated once a year, it is actually a smart choice to use a costume rental service. Now, you can save up your money and no more awkwardness every time you go to a different cultural event.
Create a Harmony
When you show much respect towards other cultures, it will establish the feeling of brotherhood in their heart. Due to this, it would result in the reduction in the disruption of communal harmony. In order to establish a peaceful country, it is utmost necessary that the people care and love each other.
How Do You Respect Each Other’s Differences?
- Develop cultural self-awareness. Understanding your own cultural makeup is the first step to understanding that others hold different values and beliefs and believe in them as much as you believe in yours.
- Learn to appreciate and value diverse views. Do not judge views that differ from yours as wrong. Instead, just accept that they are different and even try to understand other points of view. Using a costume rental service when going to a certain celebration is a good example of you learning to appreciate different cultures.
- Avoid stereotyping. Avoid all stereotypes whether “negative” or “positive.” Statements will never be true of all individuals within that population. Furthermore, there will always be individuals outside of that population who will also fit that statement.
- Learn what you can. Reading about or talking to members of another culture or visiting a friend’s cultural celebration is a great way to increase your knowledge and overall acceptance.
Conclusion
In short, Malaysia is different from any other country in terms of the culture. As a proud Malaysian, we should embrace this and let our culture be known to the rest of the world. Hopefully, we can always improve ourselves by being a better citizen regardless our race and ethnicity and accepting others’ differences because unity is a very valuable asset that we have.
