KUALA LUMPUR: There were gasps of shock and murmurs of joy mixed with disbelief.
There were also memes on social media, and travel plans that needed to be hastily brought forward by one day.
But most apparently, there was a mad rush to get the shopping, cooking, and settling the 'baju raya' and other errands all in one night.
That could sum up what many Malaysians were doing after the official announcement of an earlier-than-expected Hari Raya Aidilfitri tonight.
At an eatery in Bangsar, a loud murmur spread from diner to diner when word of the 'sudden' change of Aidilfitri date began to spread on social media and WhatsApp.
A barrage of comments soon flooded Twitter, Facebook and other platforms.
Keeper of the Rulers' Seal Tan Sri Syed Danial Syed Ahmad made the official announcement just before 8pm and it was televised live on all network TV channels and streamed online.
Social media was abuzz with many people expressing shock, disappointment and stress due to all the last-minute preparations that needed to be done.
Some had even gone as far as making fun videos and memes, and Syed Danial was not spared by netizens.
The New Straits Times surveyed the many Aidilfitri bazaars in downtown Kuala Lumpur and found many shoppers rushing to complete their festive errands.
A shopper, who admitted to being caught off guard by the raya dates announcement was Amirul Hisham, 30, from Semenyih.
He didn't expect raya to fall today.
Amirul will be celebrating his raya at his parents' village in Negri Sembilan before he visits his in-laws in Muar, Johor on Wednesday.
"Initially I was planning to leave to my parents' place tomorrow afternoon but now it looks like we'll be making a move after this," he said at Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman Bazaar late last night.
He said although he had done most of his family's shopping earlier, he still needed to get a baju Melayu for himself and some readymade cookies to bring back to his parent's place.
Nawab Khan, 41, from Puchong said he wanted to wait for the eve of the celebration to complete his raya shopping list.
Like most people, he came to the bazaar to take advantage of the heavily slashed prices of goods, which always happens on the night before raya.
"My wife and I thought it will be good to shop on the eve of raya, as things will be sold at a cheaper price," he said while picking out a baju Raya for his five-year-old daughter, Aishah.
A survey around Jalan Tuanku Abdul Rahman showed that some food items such as cookies and crackers were being sold in big portion containers and packets with discounts of up to 70 per cent.
When asked about the sudden change of date of the celebration, Nawab said normally, raya would fall a day later from the earlier predicted date, but this year turned out different.
Meanwhile, many people who had bought tickets to 'balik kampung' today were the most affected by last night's announcement.
They had to be contented to return to their hometowns on the second day of Aidilfitri or change their travel plans wherever possible.