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
"The Malays are remarkably attached to singing reciprocal Pantuns,
stanzas comprising four alternate rhyming lines, of which notice has
been taken elsewhere. Poetical contests in the Bucolic style are often
carried on to a great length by means of Pantuns. To music Malays
are passionately devoted, particularly to that of the violin. They
evince a good ear, and great readiness in committing to memory even
European airs. A voyage or journey of any length is seldom undertaken
by the better classes without a minstrel.
"Takki Takki [702] are riddles and enigmas, to the propounding and
solving of which the females and educated classes of the people are
much inclined.
"The games played by children are Tujoh Lobang, [703] Punting, Chimpli,
Kechil Krat, Kuboh, etc." [704]
Of all minor games, top-spinning and kite-flying are perhaps the most
popular. The kites are called layang-layang, which means a "swallow,"
but are sometimes of great size, one which was brought to me at Langat
measuring some six feet in height by about seven feet between the tips
of the wings. The peculiarity of the Malay kite is that it presents a
convex, instead of a concave, surface to the wind, and that no "tail"
is required, the kite being steadied by means of a beak which projects
forward at the top of the framework. They are also usually provided
with a thin, horizontal slip of bamboo (dengong) stretched tightly
behind the beak, and which hums loudly in the wind. They are of a
great number of different but well-recognised patterns, such as the
"Fighting Dragons" (Naga berjuang), the Crescent (Sahari bulan),
the Eagle (Rajawali), the Bird of Paradise (Chendrawasih), and so
forth. A small kind of roughly-made kite is, as is well known, used
at Singapore for fishing purposes, but I have never yet met with any
instance of their being used ceremonially, though it is quite certain
that grown-ups will fly them with quite as much zest as children.
Top-spinning, again, is a favourite pastime among the Malays, and is
played by old and young of all ranks with the same eagerness. [705]
The most usual form of top is not unlike the English pegtop, but has
a shorter peg. It is spun in the same way and with the same object
as our own pegtop, the object being to split the top of one's opponent.
Teetotums are also used, and I have seen in Selangor a species of
bamboo humming-top, but was told that it was copied from a humming-top
used by the Chinese.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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