The Breckenridge news., 1905-12-13
WHEN A MALAY WEEDS
sOME REMARKABLE FESTIVITIES De-
SCRIBeD BY AN ENGLISH VISITOR.
Actual wedding Day Preceded by
week of Nightly Fensting - Affair
Ends with Ceremonial Bathing.
supposed to Avert III Luck.


A week Of nightly festivities general
ly precedes the actual wedding day
and in the case of a rajah two months
of festivity may follow it. In Singa-
pore, where cosmOpoltanism has in
fected everything, the guests will be in-
vited 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
geisha girl; the bridegroom VIII be
driven around town in buggy. Eut
up country in Malayland proper. where
these corrupuons have hardly as yet
crept in. there will be only the decora-
tions of houses with curtains and flow
ers. feasting. the staining OF hnger ups,
palms and soles of the feet red WIN
henna "a performance without mage
import and borrowed from the Arabs,
whose ladies consider fingers so colored
beautiful and always affect this henna
dye): and there will be the brushing OF
forehead and hands with rice paste,
which forms an Indispensable lngredl-
ent of the medicine mans pot ana
which is used on so many occasions 10
avoid i'll luck. This is preliminary.
Finally the morning before the sand
ing. which is the essential lay part or
the wedding and the part was to see,
the legal and religious rite is perform
ed. kind of registry office business,
where the dowry is paid over, conduct
ed before the kathi, or Mohammedah
priest. and in the absence of bride ana
women folk. The sword dance 10y the
two Patanis finished, the bridegroom
was escorted away, and the people
turned homeward: ! also, 10 don native
dress and be present by invitation at
a Malay dinner at the rajah's house
and the subsequent marriage ceremony
or sanding About o'clock the we'd
dug procession collected 10 escort the
bridegroom. attlred just as he had been
in the afternoon, in pilgrim's moving
Arab robes. across to the house of his
bride. After describing the ceremony
the writer proceeds: On the next day
at o'clock in the afternoon the mar
riage party reassembled, this time for
the ceremonial bathing, mandi tolak
bola. or mandi sampat. TO avert III
luck. The bridegroom. dressed in bis
holiday silks and escorted by bis
friends. went over TO the brides house,
where he has 10 live awhile under the
ewes of his mOther-in-law. There lie
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 welded bride. also
dressed i'm old clothes, awaited bis com
ing. Amid the buZzing gathering and
laughing of the mothers Of the kan
pong tie pair grasp each tie end of Il
handkerchief and 50 united march Out
into thc passage. The narrow pas age
with the split bamboo floor is crow'cd
wi:h excited women. and every one cN-
ccpt tie LaZod victims is laughing
and talking They, poor things, sit
with down turned faces, dumb. mo-
tiouleSS. walking. sitting. standing. not
of their own accord. but mechanically
and under the compulSion Of eager
hands
Bowl after bowl Of water is poured
over the bedraggled pair. strained
through the cocoauut fronds and the
cloth The milk Of the Young cocoa
nut is omptied after it. The cocoanut
shoots and cloth are soaked and drip
ping Two women continue to drench
the couple. but for the sheer comedy
enacted 10y the rest had not been pre-
pared. though ! had expected some
thing from seeing my friend the rajah
dof his official European khaki for
something less elaborate than his silks
Of yesterday. | was soon 10 learn
The excited women having finished
with the victims in chief turned theiI
attention TO the audience and vented
their feelings by dousing every one
within reach. the raiah and myself in
cluded. We could only retort with in
effectual handfuls, while they were
Of practiced arm and equipped with
basins. However, fortune favored us.
often bamboo squirts, salted or pep
pered water or rice water are employ
ed. The women lead the bride away
for fresh toilet. The groom dons his
silks again and waits. 10 short time, in
the passage till his spouse shall have
had her toilet completed TO the salts
faction 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. The nasi
dami or rice OF accord is brought in and
placed before them. They Just taste
il. the circle Of women indulging the
while in piquant reflections on the mar
ried state and the newly married couple
in particular. An old latah woman is
galvanized into grOtesque activity,
clapping her hands and chucklng in a
gruff voice The audience Shrek with
laughter. their attention diverted for
a moment from the embarrassed pair.
The wedding is over 1t only re-
mains for the bride and bridegroom 10
sembah or lift folded palms 10 brow
in salutation OF the rajah, who has
honored them by his presence and pro
vided entertainment for their bridal
TemDle Bar