After falling in love with and marrying a local Malay in 2000, Hamilton has been across the Penang bridge every Hari Raya dressed in a baju kurung to balik kampung with her husband, Salee Saad.

“I still get really emotional seeing Salee and his siblings kneel down before their father and mother to say that they’re sorry for the wrongs they’ve done.”

Although Hamilton does not take part in the act of seeking forgiveness, she is always there to witness it. Each year, according to her, is more tender than the last.

Hamilton tells FMT that Salee, being the first child, leads this ritual — which often ends in tearful moments between him, his seven siblings and their parents.

“As everyone’s getting older, at the back of their mind, they’re thinking if this will be the last Hari Raya with mum and dad. Everyone’s just grateful to have another Hari Raya with their parents,” said Hamilton.

Before July 1998, Hamilton had never stepped foot in Penang, let alone Malaysia.

But she did follow her New Zealander horse-trainer boss there on a two-year work contract and instead of heading back home as planned when the contract was up, she stayed.

As it turned out, life had other plans for her, and 23 years have since whizzed past.

“I never left the place as I fell in love and had a family here,” said Hamilton, who is proudly the only female racehorse trainer in Malaysia.

A smile quickly formed on Hamilton’s face and she burst into laughter before telling the story of how she first fell for her husband.

The year was 1999, and Salee was then a jockey at the racecourse where she worked at. It was quite a romantic story, Hamilton admitted to FMT.

“I used to sit on my motorbike underneath a tree while waiting for the green light to cross the intersection near the race track, and Salee would always come up to me on his big motorbike,” she recalled.

“He’d always say ‘Hi, how are you?’, ‘How are you doing?’, ‘Where do you want to go?’ and that’s how I first began seeing him.”

Every Raya begins in a frenzy for this family. As Salee is a seasoned jockey in Penang, he’ll be out early in the morning to put on a show at the racecourse to celebrate the day.

Afterwards, Salee drives his family off to Butterworth. Hamilton would sit shotgun, while the couple’s two children, Samuel Ameer, 19, and Shaydinah Nicole, 17, occupy the backseat.

Each year, the family of four not only dresses in their best Hari Raya outfits to celebrate the festive season but they’re also always dressed in their chosen colour of the year.

“Something that really stands out to me is how everyone takes a lot of pride in matching the colour of their outfits. In a way, it’s really precious and I admire it,” said a laughing Hamilton, before listing the different colour themes that they’ve chosen in the past such as green, gold, blue and pink.

On top of dressing up in colourful traditional attire, Hamilton diligently hands out green packets of duit raya every year.

In fact, Hamilton’s first Raya will always be one to remember, as she recalled shocking her husband with her generous green packets.

“It was my first time and I was putting RM100 notes in each of them!” laughed Hamilton.

“Salee didn’t know how much I put in and when he asked me about it, he was in utter shock as he said that they normally give out RM10.”

Upon hearing the conversation, Hamilton’s son Samuel chimed in, saying that his fondest childhood memories of Raya involved going door-to-door around his grandparents’ apartment complex with his little bag to collect coins.

“I’d go around with my cousins when I was nine or 10 years old to wish everyone a Selamat Hari Raya. And I’d come back with around RM300 in coins each time,” said Samuel.

Green packets and pouches full of coins aside, one thing that always stood out to both Samuel and his mother was Embah’s (grandma’s) delicious cooking that filled the house with the mouthwatering aroma of blended spices.

“Salee’s mum would normally stay up all night with Salee’s sisters, cooking up a big feast,” said Hamilton, who added that nothing can quite top Embah’s ayam masak merah with its heavenly sambal.

And as Hari Raya celebration inch closer, the family readies their tummies for the long-awaited flavours of Embah’s savoury dishes as well as the joy of seeing loved ones and familiar faces.

“One thing we all look forward to is seeing everyone on that special day. On that note, I’d like to wish everyone a Selamat Hari Raya, and I sincerely hope that everyone will keep safe while celebrating this year,” smiled Hamilton.