A string of festivals are set to greet us in the next 6 months, starting with the Merdeka Month Celebrations tomorrow till 16 September 2006, in conjunction with our 49th anniversary of independence on 31 August 2006. Shortly a month later, the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan begins on 24 September 2006. The Chinese Mid Autumn Festival will fall on 6 October and this is followed by the double celebrations of Deepavali and Hari Raya Aidilfitri on 21 October and 24 October respectively. On 30 October 2006, the Chinese Nine Emperor’s God Festival takes place.

Expect a break in November from the festivals but, here comes the year-end school holidays from 18 November 2006 till the end of the year, during which, Christmas comes, as usual, on 25 December 2006, followed by Hari Raya Aidiladha on 31 December 2006 and New Year 2007 on 1 January 2007. Maal Hijrah, the Islamic Lunar New Year falls on 20 January 2007.

To conclude the string of festivals, the Chinese Lunar New Year is set to greet us on 18 February 2007 for the next 15 days. And guess what, it’s a Sunday. If you do remember, this year, we also celebrated Chinese New Year on Sunday (29 January 2006). It’s a rare occassion to see Chinese Lunar New Year falls on the same day of week for 2 consecutive years.