The Daily times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1886-1889, 1889-12-08
TIE MALAY CHRISTMAS.
AN ANCIENT PAGAN FESTIVAL STILL
CELEBRATED IN AMERICAN PORTS.
yt L. Handed Down from Long Ago, and ~
Not Clearly Understood by All tho haiay
ropuia,ion.-A Curious People and Where
They Came from.

nomination OF the United States tho
Malay occupies an interesting IL not
prominent place. Though an unknown
figure ia social economy twenty years
eco. the Malay's face Is now so familiar
in the great seaboard cities as TO excite
neither surprise nor comment. How
many members Of the brown skinned race
are in the United States il is hard to deter
amino. Both census officials ana custom
house authorities display superb ignor-
ance as 10 oriental races and credit the
Malay 70 China, japan, Hindoostan'
Arabia. Egypt and Ethiopia, with adj
mirablc disregard Of truth. The trouble
i'm the matter Is that the Malay IA not
pnre bloodod race. IN Manila his blood
Is so mixed with Chinese, Spanish and
Annamesc as TO be physioiogic mosaic.
Tho Manillesc may for this reason
present the appearance Of a Mongol, a
Castilian or a West Indian half-brecd.
in Java and Sumatra be has been crossed
with Hindoostanese,S emitcs and negroes.
Immigrants from these lands resemble
mulaitoes, Arabs and inhabitants Of
Bengal
OF the thousands in the United States,
q LARGE fraction consists Of cigarmakers
who have learned their trade in Manila
and other eastern manufacturing cities,
and who now make a comparatively
handsome living in the New World by
making cheroots. cigarettes, stogies,
tobics and cigars. Another body is COM
posed Of cooks and stewards who have
Quancled with ship captains, or who
have grown weary Of life on the sea and
have settled down TO other pursuits
Others are runners forscamen's boarding
houses. pcddlers Of oriental goods,
"bcuncors" in sailors gambling houses
and attaches Of low dance halls, cheap
rrogeerics, vile slop shops and other
places TO which the newly arrived mari
ner bends his way. \ still larger num-
Der is Of sailors on foreign ships. just
rs the poorly paid Scandinavian seaman
has driven the American out of business,
and is now doing the same thing with
the British jack tar, so he in turn is SUI
fcring the same experience at the hands
Of the still more poorly paid Lascar,
Alanillcsc and Malay.
The ships engaged in the Asiatic trade
are now largely manned by this race
Some. indeed, employ none but Malays
in the Atlantic marine the proportion Is
not so great, but even here are employed
thousands. This great seafaring popula-
ton is what has built up Malay colonies
in New York. Boston, Baltimore, New
Orleans, San Francisco and Portland.
Tho largest is naturally in the first named
CITY. and varies, according to the ships
that may be in the harbor, from few
hundreds 10 about two thousand. Most
Of it is to be found in the boarding
houses for sailors that make so promi-
nent a feature i'm the streets that adIOln
the Fast river, New York.
While the Malay has no distinctive re-
ligion. he still preserves a rude faith in
the ancient SanslUrit doctrines. Con-
quests and missionaries from everywhere
have cxerted profound influence upon
his mind, and left it in a hopeless mud
die wherein Buddhism, atheism, mate
rialsm, MOhammedanism, Confucian-
ism, Roman Catholicism and Protestant
ism occupy equal places. They have not,
however, rooted out the belief which the
Brahmanc people stamped ages ago
upon the Malay intellect. This crops out
here and there, and finds its best express
sion in the Feast OF Roma or Rahma,"
which corresponds closely TO our Christ
mas and the Chinese winter festival.
While Roma is no one less than the old
Indian demigod, whose labors and ex-
ploits have been immortalized in the
great epic the Ramayana, he isviewed in
all sorts Of lights by his believers. Ac-
cordng 10 some Malays, Roma is the
same thing to an educated Malay as
Santa Claus TO an American. Others
take a different view in declaring that
Roma is another name, or else the Malay
name, for Quong Tai Gong, the favorite
for God in Chinese, while still others
are of the opinion that Roma was their
god long ago, when they believed in
gods.
The feast occurs in December, between
the 18th and the 23d days ofrhe month,
and is determined 10y the position of the
moon just prior TO the winter solstice.
In the east it is celebrated with all kinds
of queer ceremonies. Edward Michael,
New York journalist. says: 1.-The feast
of Roma in the Malay countries is an
interesting mixture of observances. On
the religious side are any amount of
ceremonies which seem midway in char
actcr between those of Christianity and
Buddhism. More singular than the re-
ligious is the secular phase. For many
days the people stop work and indulge
in turtle fighting, quail fighting, cock
roach, spider and scorpion fighting. The
wealthy and nobility set apart three
days for bloodletting, in which aSimals,
tame and wild, are killed in the cruelest
manner bv the continued infliction of
small wounds. l recall one BoneSe
prince who killed two tigers in this
way, and who, in the frenzy which
seemed 10 possess him, deliberately cut
and stabbed himself SO rs to increase
the hloodshed. 1t is not an uncommon
occurrence for cclebrant, crazy with
excitement and fiery rice brandy, TO in
5lict fatal wounds upon himself during
this mad feast. 1t was from this re-
lnarkable festival, probably, that the
expression arose of a Malay running
amuck.' The bloodletting must have
an historical origin, and doubtless CON-
memorates the wounds and suiTerings of
the Sanscrit divinity, Roma"
While tho Malay Christmas is cele-
bratod in every place where there are
members Of that race, the celebration
has none OF the sanguinary features Of
the native lands In New York last wear
ii was observed in at least three places
one on Pcll street, second on Cherry
and third on Mott street The forms
were about the sause Ia each instance.
a dwelling room was utilized as a church.
The bed was covered with coverlets and
rugs. 50 as TO become a comfortable
lounge, and a table was converted into
an altar by draping it with cloth On