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
When a man dies, the corpse (called Maiat, except in the case of
a Raja, when it is called Jenaja or Jenazah) is laid on its back,
and composed with the feet towards Mecca, and the hands crossed (the
right wrist resting upon the left just below the breast-bone, and the
right fore-finger on the top of the left arm). It is next shrouded
from head to foot in fine new sarongs, one of which usually covers
the body from the feet upwards to the waist, the other covering it
from the waist to the head. There are generally (in the case of the
peasantry) three or four thicknesses of these sarongs, but when a
rich man (orang kaya) dies, as many as seven may be used, each of the
seven being made in one long piece, so as to cover the body from the
head to the feet, the cloth being of fine texture, of no recognised
colour, but richly interwoven with gold thread, while the body is laid
upon a mattress, which in turn rests upon a new mat of pandanus leaf;
finally, all but the very poorest display the hangings used on great
occasions. At the head of the corpse are then piled five or six new
pillows, with two more on the right and left side of the body resting
against the ribs, while just below the folded hands are laid a pair
of betel-nut scissors (kachip besi), and on the matting at either
side a bowl for burning incense is placed. Some say that the origin
of laying the betel-nut scissors on the breast is that once upon a
time a cat brushed against the body of a dead person, thereby causing
the evil influence (badi) which resides in cats to enter the body,
so that it rose and stood upon its feet. The "contact with iron"
[639] prevents the dead body from rising again should it happen by
any mischance that a cat (which is generally the only animal kept
in the house, and which should be driven out of the house before the
funeral ceremonies commence) should enter unawares and brush against
it. From this moment until the body is laid in the grave the "wake"
must be religiously observed, and the body be watched both by day
and night to see that nothing which is forbidden (pantang) may come
near it. [640] The Imam, Bilal, or Khatib, or in their absence the Pah
Doja, or Pah Lebai, is then summoned, and early notice of the funeral
is given to all relations and friends to give them an opportunity of
attending. Meanwhile the preparations are going on at the house of
the deceased. The shroud (kain kapan) and plank or planks for the
coffin are got ready: of coffins there are three kinds, the papan
sakeping (the simplest form, generally consisting of a simple plank
of pulai or jelutong wood about six feet long by three spans wide),
the karanda (a plain, oblong plank box, of the same dimensions), and
the long (consisting either of two planks which form a sort of gable
with closed ends called kajang rungkop, or the long betul, which is
like three sides of a box with its sides bulging out, both ends open,
and no bottom). Varnish or paint is forbidden in Malay coffins, but
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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