Revive The ‘Kampung’ Spirit 种族和谐日

赶上在2010年12月4日（星期六）举办的种族和谐日，这个以甘榜精神与种族融合为双主题的活动真实的反映了新加坡多元化的社区风貌。

创造一个不分彼此、肤色、年龄的平台是傳神居家照顾协会的宗旨之一。在同欢共庆的这一天，我们再次提出“种族和谐”这个概念以巩固人人该奉行的这个信念。

然而，种族和谐和“甘榜”（Kampung）又有什么关系呢？在这个家家闭门户，自扫门前雪的组屋社会里，提起“甘榜”到底有什么意义？

这一切的解答就在这个美丽的夜晚《甘榜之夜》。250位打扮朴实亮丽的居民带着轻松又灿烂的笑容来到CCS武吉巴督邻里中心。在傳神义工的带动下，他们制作状似“肉粽”的华艺手工，最后在制成的三角形模盒里装着几颗糖果，然后把它送给身边的友人，祝福对方来年幸福与幸运。

傍晚6时，场地已经弥漫在歌声之中。居民纷纷排队享用晚餐，而今年最特别的是，晚餐别出心栽地分摊在三个档口：食物分别有马来鸡丝米粉（Mee Soto），印度煎饼（Roti Prata）和华人的甜品——清汤。这些美食都是由居民和义工联手炮制与烹煮的，因此更显得有人情味。

除了武吉巴督的居民，《甘榜之夜》也有来自第八区联络所的居民以及东源区乐龄娱乐中心的居民，场面更是热闹，可以说这活动的举办是成功的。

分享种族风俗习惯

最难得的是华、巫、印，三大民族穿上民族婚礼服饰，在台上表演和讲述种族间的特别与不同之处。“我们华人有很多禁忌的，比如：吃饭时要端坐着、不可以敲打碗碟、也不可以吃剩米粒……”台下的长者听到这对华族夫妇一边述说华人的风俗习惯，一边开心的猛点头表示认同。

马来夫妇说：“在结婚典礼上，新郎新娘就是那一天的国王和皇后，走起路来一定要有神气！”在群众的要求下，马来夫妇轻松的迈开脚步，示范在婚礼上走路的样子，使全场来宾高兴得拍手叫好。

印度人的传统服装一向耀眼亮丽。当这对情侣步上舞台时，我们顿时眼前一亮。目光都被那印裔女生全身上下的金饰和那套鲜红色的纱丽（Sari）所深深吸引住。她说：“在我们的文化习俗里，金色只是一种尊贵的象征。其实，新婚男女也可以戴上银饰或漂亮的石头来装饰自己，不是非把黄金往身上穿戴不可。”

透过传统服装的多姿展示，我们对彼此的文化和习惯更加了解，也更加懂得尊重我们的友族同胞了。


‘Kampung Nite’, a CCS Bukit Batok event, is an opportunity for members and neighbourhood residents to get together for an evening of food, light entertainment and socialising. It is an evening when we try to revive the ‘kampung’ spirit, where different races and cultures meet and neighbours become friends.

The theme of racial and cultural understanding and harmony was particularly emphasised on our ‘kampung nite’ held on Saturday, 4th December. Some 250 members, neighbourhood residents and Zone 8 RC members attended the event. Besides the usual karaoke session, the various dance performances, the racial harmony theme was highlighted in various other ways.

Food: there were Malay ‘mee soto’, Indian roti prata with curry, and ‘cheng tng’, a Chinese dessert, lovingly prepared by our volunteers.

Art and craft: our volunteers showed visitors the art of using coloured paper to make Chinese dumpling-like shapes. Hundreds of these were made, filled with candy, and distributed to everyone.









Dance: besides a Chinese fan dance, a few of our Chinese members went on stage to perform an Indian dance, led by Terani, a lovely young Indian lady.

The highlight of the evening has to be inviting on stage an Indian couple, a Chinese couple and four Malay dressing as a couple and their children to share some cultural moments. They were dressed in traditional costumes, and had these to share with us.

The Indian couple shone with their colourful clothing, particularly the lady with her elegant red gown, richly sparkling with gold and silver ornaments. She said, “In our culture, gold is a symbol of prosperity, but of course we usually use imitation gold and silver ornaments for our costumes, anything that adds sparkle and colour.”

From the Chinese couple. “The Chinese have rather strict traditional customs and rules of conduct. For example, at meal times, we must sit properly and quietly; we must finish every morsel in out rice bowl” On hearing this, the elderly Chinese in the audience nodded with agreement.

The Malay couple said that the bride and groom are royalty for the day. They are dressed in richly decorated traditional attire, and must walk sedately and with dignity. The couple, with their two children on stage, then showed everyone the ‘wedding walk’, receiving much applause from the audience.

At the end of the evening, all of us had gained better insight into the different cultures that make up our society. In fact, some of the elderly Chinese, used to only Chinese food, probably tasted mee soto and roti prata for the first time while some Malays and Indians confessed that they had never had cheng tng before.