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
Whilst the games are progressing (at about nine or ten P.M.) the first
staining of the finger-nails of the bride and bridegroom is commenced,
the ceremony on this occasion being conducted in the seclusion of
the inner apartments, and hence called the "Stolen Henna-staining"
(berhinei churi). Leaves of henna are taken and pounded together with a
small piece of charcoal, and the "mash" is applied to the finger-nails
of both hands (with the exception of the middle or "Devil's finger,"
jari hantu). The centre of each palm is also touched with the dye,
the area stained being as much as would be covered by a dollar. A line
(of a finger's breadth) is also said to be drawn along the inner side
of the sole of each foot, from the great toe to the heel (hinei kaus).
A couple of what we should call "pages," of about ten years of age,
are seated right and left of the bridegroom, and are called Pengapit.
The bride usually provides herself with one or more girl companions;
but these are supposed to "hide themselves" when there is company,
their place being taken by more staid duennas, who are called Tukang
Andam (i.e. "coiffeurs"), and a personal attendant or nurse, called
Ma'inang (Mak Inang), who appears to act as a sort of Mistress of
the Ceremonies.
The second day is spent by the guests (as was said above) in sleeping
off their night's fatigue, and they do not reassemble till evening,
at about five P.M.
When the last has arrived (at about seven P.M.) a meal is served,
and at about half-past eight the games recommence; but after a round
or so (zikir sa-jurus), say at about ten P.M., the bride at her house
and bridegroom at his respectively make their first appearance in
public, clad in their wedding garments, for the ceremony of staining
the finger-nails, this time in public. When they are seated (between
the two candlesticks, which are lighted to facilitate the operation)
a tray is brought forward, furnished with the usual accessories
of Malay magic, rice-paste (tepong tawar), washed rice, "saffron"
rice, and parched rice, to which is added, in this instance, a sort
of pudding of the pounded henna-leaves. A censer is next produced,
and a brass tray with a foot to it (called semb'rip) is loaded with
nasi berhinei (pulut or "glutinous" rice stained with saffron), in
which are planted some ten to fifteen purple eggs (dyed with a mixture
of brazil wood (sepang) and lime, and stuck upon ornamental sprays
of bamboo decorated with coloured paper). The bride (or bridegroom)
is then seated in a "begging" attitude, with the hands resting upon a
cushion placed in the lap; the first of the guests then takes a pinch
of incense from the tray and burns it in the brazier (tempat bara);
next he takes a pinch of parched rice, a pinch of newly-washed rice,
and a pinch of saffron rice, and, squeezing them together in the right
fist, fumigates them by holding them for a moment over the burning
incense, and then throws them towards the sitter, first towards the
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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