To some of you who have met me or seen my photos, you would see that I am an Asian, my whole family is Asian. But there is a lot more to it than meets the eye. Both my husband and I come from totally different backgrounds, he is a Chinese Vietnamese, while I am a Malay Singaporean. So, in Asian terms, our kids are of a mixed racial background.

With this also comes the question of religion, maybe not so much in Australia, but very much so if you came from Singapore and is a born Muslim. The issue of conversion comes into play and hence, how we raise our children. My husband and I know the intricacies of raising a child in a predominantly Anglo- Saxon society, and have always tried our best to inculcate whatever cultural backgrounds we each have into the upbringing of our children. It is not easy to raise a child without having to think about culture and religion, imagine the two of us trying our best not to let our children forget where we came from, so that they can pass it on to the generations to come. As for religion, we have decided not to pursue those issues. Life is complicated enough without having to introduce them to the idea of God etc. We believe in raising our children to be honest, loyal, knowledgeable and sincere human beings.

So how do we help foster the culture we both originate from? My religion celebrates Eid – the end of Ramadhan (fasting month), and with that celebration from my cultural background – we visit our friends and relatives and of course one of the most outstanding part of all cultures – FOOD! So, instead of focusing on the religious aspect of this celebration, we have the children dress up in the cultural costumes, I would bake the special cakes and cookies that we normally do in Singapore and also cook the special foods that are normally served. Rendang served with compressed rice, mixed vegetables in coconut milk, and much, much more! Recently I even invited my friends over to my house to have a taste of these fanfare. Another part of this celebration is the giving away of money to children or young adults who have not yet started working. It acts like a token, any amount is acceptable.

The same goes for my husband’s culture. He celebrates Chinese New Year. To expose my children to this part of the culture, we would go for a reunion dinner with his side of the family and on the eve we would hold our own reunion dinner at our house, just the five of us.  Here we would normally have steamboat – this is where we choose from an array of raw and marinated foods and cook it in simmering stock together. The children will also get to dress up and visit my husband’s family and get what we call “Ang Pow” or red packet, which is filled with money.

The children love celebrating these special cultural occasions and it also opens up their eyes on the different customs that come along with it. We only recently started celebrating Christmas. Again, not the religious but rather cultural aspect of gift giving and getting together with friends and family. In part, I think it is important to expose my chidren to the different cultural backgrounds that we have not only in our family but in our society. By teaching them about giving more than the receiving, it gives them a more wholesome experience and deeper understanding of where they come from and where they would be going and are a part of. We can only hope these experiences will enrich their lives and be passed on to the next generations.

So, how about you? Do you have any interesting cultural celebrations or customs that you might like to share?