Evening star., 1905-11-07
A MALAY WEDDING.
Some Remarkable Festivities Described
by an English Visitor.
From the Temple Bar.


week Of nightly festivities generally
precedes the actual wedding day fand in
the case of a rajah two months of festivi.y
may follow IT.. In Singapore where cos
mopolitantsm has infected everything, the
guests will be invited to feed one night on
white mans fare. and yet another on curry,
Malay fashion, with their fingers; the bride
will appear one night in an English gown,
the next as a Chinese lady. and then gray
robed, gay sashed, as a Geisha girl; the
bridegroom will be driven around town IN
buggy. But up country in Malaylaad
proper, where these corruptions have hard
ly as yet crept in, there will be only the
decorations of houses with curtains and
flowers, feasting, the staining of finger tips
palms and soles of the feet red with henna
"a performance without magic import, and
borrowed from the Arabs, whose ladies
consider fingers so eolored beautiful, and
always affect this henna dye); and there
will be the brushing of forehead and hands
with rice paste, which forms an indispensa-
BILE ingredient of the medicine mans pot
and which is used on so many occasions
to avert .W luck. This is preliminary.
F'inallYsfhn morning before the sanding
which is the essential lay part of the we'd
ding andEthe part | was to see. the legal
and religious rite is performed, kind OF
registry oHIce business, where the dowry Is
paid over -condurted before the kathi. or
Mohametan priest.S and in the absence of
bride and women folk. The sword dance
by the two Patanis finished, the bridegroom
was escorted away and the people turned
homeward; l. also. to don native dress and
be present by invitation at Malay dinner
at the rajah's house, and the subsequent
marriage ceremony, or sanding. About
3 O'Clock the wedding procession collected
to escort the bridegroom attired Just as
he had been in the afternoon, in pilgrims
flowing Arab robes. across to the house of
his bride. After describing the ceremony
q urri irnr nrn dc. n h. a.,
4 o'clock in the afternoon the marriage
party reassenpbled, this time for the cere-
monal bathing. mandi tolak bola or mandi
sampat. to avert i'll luck. The bride
groom, dressed in his holiday silks and es-
corted by his friends went over to the
brides house. where he has to live a while
under the eyes of his mother-in-law. There
he changed his attire for the shabby clothes
that are always reserved for ablution and
with towel over his shoulders, passed
into the Inner room. where his newly we'd
ded bride, also dressed in old Clothes await
ed his coming. Amid the buZZing clatter-
ing and laughing of the mothers of the
kampong the pair grasp each the end ar
a handkerchief. and United march out
Into the passage. The narrow passage
with the split bamboo moor is crowded with
excited women, and every one except the
mazed victims Is laughing and talking
They, poor things. sit with gdown-turned
faces, dumb, motionless, walking sitting,
standing, not of their own accord but me-
eager hands
Bowl after bowl OF water Is poured over
the bedraggled pair-strained through the
cocoanut fronds and the cloth. The milk
of the young cocoanut is emptied after It,
The cocoanut shoots and cloth are soaked
and dripping. Two women continue to
drench the couple. but for the sheer COM
edy enacted by the rest l had not been
prepared, though had expected something
from seeing my friend the rajah dofY his
official European khaki for something less
elaborate than his silks Of yesterday. /
was soon to learn. The excited women.
having finished with the victims in chief
turned their attention to the audience and
vented their feelings by dousing every one
within reach, the raiah and myself includ-
ed. We could only retort with Intellectual
handfuls. while they were of practiced arm
and equipped with basins. However for
tune favored US. Often bamboo squires
salted or peppered water. or rice water are
employed. The women lead the bride
away for fresh toilet. The groom dons
his silks again and waits no Short time IN
the passage TIL his spouse shall have had
her toilet completed to the satisfaction OF
the matrons. Once more the bridegroom is
ushered inside. and he and his bride are
seated side by side, as on the previous
evening: but this time on dais just below
the bed. raised some eight inches off the
floor and hung with scarlet cloth. The
"nasi damf. or rice of accord IS brought
In and placed before them. They Just taste
IL, the circle of women induging the while
III piquant reflections on the married state
and the newly married couple in particular
An old "Latah" woman is galvanized into
grotesque activity. clapping her hands and
ehucklng in gruff voice. The audience
shrek with laughter. their attention di
verted for moment from the embar-
rassed pair. The wedding Is over. 1t only
remains for the bride and bridegroom to
"sembah'' or lift folded palms to brow in
salutatIon of their rajah who has honored
them by his presence and provided enter
tainment for their bridal