Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-12-07
TIE MALAY CHRISTMAS
An ANCIENT PAGAN FESTIVAL STILL
CELEBRATED IN AMERICAN PORTS.
% IL Handed Down nom Lsog Ago. and 1s
Not Clearly Understood by All the Malay
Population-AC Curious People and where
They Came from.

Not Clearly Undestood by All the Malay
Population-A Curious People and where
They Came from.
Especial Correspondsnce1
NEW York, Dcc. 6.--Among tho end
less mixture Of races which make up the
population Of the United States the
Malay occupies an interesting II not .
prominent place. Though an unknown
figure In social economy twenty years
ago, tho Malay's face is now 90 familiar
In the great seaboard cities rs to excite
neither surprise nor comment. How
many members OF the brown skinned race
are In the United States It 10 hard 10 deter
mine. Both census officials and custom
house authorities display superb ignor-
ance as TO oriental races, and credit tho
Malay to China, Japan, Hindoostan,
Arabia, Egypt and Ethiopia, with ad.
mirable disregard Of truth. Tho trouble
In the matter Is that the Malay Is not a
pure blooded race. In Manila his blood
IL so mixed with Chinese, Spanish and
Annamese as to be physiologic mosaic.
The Manillese may for this reason
present the appearance OF q Mongol, o
Castilian or West Indian half-breed.
In Java and Sumatra he has been crossed
with Hindoostanese,S ,Semites and negroes.
Immigrants from these lands resemble
mulattoes, Arabs and inhabitants Of
Bengal.
OF tho thousands In tho United States,
q large fraction consists Of cigarmakert
who have learned their trade in Manila
and other eastern manufacturing cities,
and who now make comparatively
handsome living In the New World by
making cheroots, cigarettes, stogies,
tobies and cigars. Another body is com.
posed Of cooks and stewards who have
quarreled with ship captains, or who
have grown weary Of life on tho sea and
have settled down to other pursuits.
Others are runners for scamen's boarding
houses, peddlers of oriental goods,
"bouncers" In sailors gambling houses
and attaches Of low dance halls, cheap
giUsgeEics, vilo slop shops and other
places to which tho newly arrived mari
ner bends his way. still larger mum
bcr is of sailors on foreign Ships. just
rs the poorly paid Scandinavian seamaif'
has driven tho American out of business,
and Is now doing the same thing with
the British jack tar, SO he in turn is suf.
fering the same experience at the hands
Of the still more poorly paid Lascar,
Manillese and Malay.
Tho 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 50 great, but even hero 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.
The largest is naturally in the first named
city, and varies, according to the ships
that may be in the harbor. from few
hundreds to about two thousand. Most
Of 1t is to be found in the boarding
houses for sailors that make 30 promi-
nent feature in the streets that adjoin
the East river, New York.
While the Malay has no distinctive re-
ligion, he still preserves a rude faith In
the ancient Sanskrit doctrines. Con-
quests and missionaries from everywhere
have exerted profound influence upon
his mind, and left 1t in hopeless mud.
die wherein Buddhism, atheism, mate
rialism, Mohammedanism, Confucian.
ism, Roman Catholicism and Protestant.
ism occupy equal places. They have not,
however, rooted out the belief which the
Brahmanic people stamped ages ago
upon the Malay intellect. This crops out
here and there, and finds its best expires.
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 is viewed in
all sorts Of lights by his believers. Ac-
cording to some Malays, Roma is the
same thing to an educated Malay AS
Santa Claus to an American. Others
take 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 tho opinion that Roma was their
god long ago, when they believed in
gods.
luG ltttot oItuio III lStChibcIy DStWGcu
the 18th and the Esd days Of tho month,
and is determined by tho position of the
moon just prior to the winter solstice.
In the east 1t is celebrated with all kinds
OF queer ceremonies. Edward Michael,
New York journalist, says; "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.
Buddhism. More singular than the re.
ligious is tho secular phase. For many
days tho 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 animals.
tame and wild, are killed in the cruelest
manner by the continued infiiction oi
small wounds. / recall one Bornese
prince who killed two tigers in thi,
way, and who, In tho frenzy which
seemed to possess him, deliberately cut
and stabbed himself 80 as to increase
the bloodshcd. 1t is not an uncommon
occurrence for celebrant, crazy with
excitement and fiery rico brandy, to in
fict fatal wounds upon himself during
this mad feast. 1t was from this re-
markablo festival, probably, that the
expression arose Of Malay running
amuck.' Tho bloodletting must have
an historical origin, and doubtless com
memorates tho wounds and sufferings Of
the Sanscrit divinity, Roma"
While tho Malay Christmas is cele
brated in every place where there arr
members Of that race, the celebration
has mono of tho sanguinary features ol
the native lands. In New York last yeaI