WEAVING KETUPAT CASINGS

I was busy weaving ketupat casings from plastic ribbons this afternoon. I used light and dark green ribbons to fashion the ketupat casings. See, I even sat kampung style to do the weaving. By 4.00 p.m. I had already woven 16 casings to decorate the library for the Hari Raya Aidil Fitri Celebrations.
My students and some of the new teachers are usually taken aback when they see me weaving the ketupat casings as it is a traditional Malay art which is mastered by the village folks.  Well, I must mention that I taught in a village school for 5 years and learnt how to weave the ketupat casings from my friends there.
  For those who don't know what ketupat is, then read on ...

ABOUT THE KETUPAT
Ketupat or packed rice is a type of dumpling from Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, Singapore, and the Philippines. 
It is made from rice that has been wrapped in a woven palm leaf pouch and boiled. As the rice cooks, the grains expand to fill the pouch and the rice becomes compressed. This method of cooking gives the ketupat its characteristic form and texture of a rice dumpling. Ketupat is usually eaten with rendang (a type of dry beef curry) or served as an accompaniment to satay or gado-gado. Ketupat is also traditionally served by Malays at open houses on festive occasions such as Idul Fitri (Hari Raya Aidilfitri).

There are many varieties of ketupat, with two of the more common ones being ketupat nasi and ketupat pulut. Ketupat nasi is made from white rice and is wrapped in a square shape with coconut palm leaves while ketupat pulut is made from glutinous rice is usually wrapped in a triangular shape using the leaves of the fan palm (Licuala). Ketupat pulut is also called "ketupat daun palas" in Malaysia.
For decoration purposes, plastic ribbons are used to weave the ketupat casings instead of the daun palas or palm leaves.
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ketupat