Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay PeninsulaSkeat, Walter William
Religion
Malay Magic: Being an introduction to the folklore and popular religion of the Malay Peninsula
Skeat, Walter William
Magic -- Malay Peninsula; Malays (Asian people) -- Folklore; Malays (Asian people) -- Social life and customs
There are several varieties, of which the best is called Tongkat
Mandah; it may be described as an ordinary "rice-head" bending over
to meet the tip of a second (adventitious) "rice-head," but it is
produced only by a freak of nature. There is some risk connected with
this variety, however, for if the "Reception (Sambut) Ceremony" is
not properly performed the owner will die. The second best is called
"The Kite" (Lang). The third best is called "The Veiled Princess"
(Putri Bertudong); in this case the sheath of the "head" is of unusual
length, and overshadows the "head" itself. A fourth kind is called
Padi Bertel'kum, and is described as a "Female Rice" (padi betina);
like the "Veiled Princess," it has an unusually well-developed sheath;
whilst a fifth kind is the "Padi Mendhara"--a rice-plant whose leaves
show white lines or markings.
How women should reap on ordinary occasions.--Whenever women go out
to reap they should repeat certain charms before leaving the house,
[431] and again before depositing their baskets on the ground. Their
heads should be covered, and they should always be careful to reap,
as has been said, facing the sun, to prevent their shadow from falling
upon the rice in the basket at their side. Occasionally, however,
the body is uncovered, and I was even told of one, Inche Fatimah of
Jugra, in Selangor, who when reaping stripped herself bare from the
waist upwards, and when asked why she did so said it was "to make the
rice-husks thinner, as she was tired of pounding thick-husked rice."
The sheaf which is left standing after the taking home of the
Rice-soul is called the Mother of the Rice-soul (Ibu Semangat Padi),
and treated as a newly-made mother; that is to say, young shoots of
trees (putik-putik kayu) are taken, pounded together (di-tumbok), and
scattered broadcast (di-tabor) every evening for three successive days.
When the three days are up you take cocoa-nut pulp (isi niyor) and
what are called "goat flowers" (bunga kambing), mix them, and eat
them with a little sugar, spitting some of the mixture out among
the rice. [So, after a birth (as the Pawang informed me), the young
shoots of the jack-fruit (kababal nangka), the rose-apple (jambu),
and certain kinds of banana (such as pisang abu and pisang Benggala),
and the thin pulp of young cocoa-nuts (kelongkong niyor) are mixed
with dried fish, salt, acid (asam), prawn-condiment (b'lachan), and
similar ingredients, to form a species of salad (rojak). For three
successive days this salad is administered to mother and child,
the person who administers it saying, if the child be a girl,
"Your mother is here, eat this salad," and if the child be a boy,
"Your father is here, eat this salad."]
Invariably, too, when you enter the rice-clearing (menempoh ladang)
you must kiss the rice-stalks (chium tangkei padi), saying, "Cluck,
cluck, soul of my child!" (kur, semangat anak aku!) just as if you
were kissing an infant of your own.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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