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
Of the water-receptacles, those in alternate corners are filled with
water and cane-juice, the central receptacle being filled with the
blood of the fowl (or other animal slain for the sacrifice).
Upon the ground, exactly underneath the tray, should be deposited
the feathers, feet, entrails, etc., of the fowl, portions of whose
flesh have been used for the tray, together with the refuse of
the parched rice and a censer. Strictly speaking, a white and a
black fowl should be killed, but only half of each cooked, the
remainder being left raw. The "portions" of fowl are as small as
they can possibly be, a mere symbol (`isharat) of each kind of
food being all that the spirits are supposed to require. Sometimes
funnel-shaped rice-receptacles are used, which are skewered with a
bamboo skewer and called keronchot. Occasionally a standard censer
(sangga?) is used, the end of a piece of bamboo being split up and
bent or opened outwards for several inches, and a piece of rattan
(cane) being wound in and out among the split ends, so as to form a
sort of funnel (about nine inches in diameter at the top), which is
lined with banana leaf, filled with earth, and planted vertically in
the ground, great care being taken to see that it does not lean out of
the perpendicular. Live embers are placed upon it, incense crumbled
over it (between the finger and thumb), and the appropriate charm
recited. A specimen of a charm or formula used during the burning of
incense will be found in the Appendix. [660]
The ketupats are called--(1) S'ri neg'ri (seven-cornered), or the "luck
of the country"; (2) Buah k'ras (six-cornered), or the "candle-nut";
(3) Bawang puteh (six-cornered), or "garlic"; (4) Ulu pengayoh
(four-cornered), or the "paddle-handle"; (5) Pasar (five-cornered),
or the "market"; (6) Bawang merah (six-cornered), or the "onion";
(7) Pasar Pahang (six-cornered), or the "Pahang market"; (8) Telor,
or the "hen's egg."
The lepats are called--(1) Lepat daun niyor (5-6 inches long and
made of cocoa-nut leaves); (2) Lepat tilam (of plantain leaves);
(3) Lepat daun palas (of palas leaves, three-sided).
Diminutive models of various objects (also made of cocoa-nut leaves)
are often added, e.g. burong ponggok, the owl; ker'bau, the buffalo;
rusa, the stag; tekukur, the ground-dove; ketam, the crab; and (but
very rarely) kuda, the horse.
The things deposited in the tray are intended for the spirits (Hantus)
themselves; the refuse on the ground beneath it for their slaves
(hamba).
Of the food in the tray, the cooked food is for the king of the
spirits (Raja Hantu), who is sometimes said to be the Wild Huntsman
(Hantu Pemburu) and sometimes Batara Guru, and the uncooked for
his following. But of the two eggs, the uncooked one is alleged
to be for the Land-spirit (i.e. the Wild Huntsman), and the cooked
for the Sea-spirit; this assertion, however, requires some further
investigation before it can be unreservedly accepted.
The Wave-Offering
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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