The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1906-01-18
WHEN A MALAY WEDS
SOME RsMARkAsls FESTIVITIES os.
scRleEo sy AN ENGLISH VISITOR.

scRleEo eY AN ENGLISH VISITOR.
Actual weddiax Day Preceded b,
week ef Nightly Fea.tias - AGat'
Enaa With Ceremonial Bathing
Supposed 20 Avert IN Lack.
A week Of nightly festivities general
ly preceles the actual wedding day
and IN the case OF a rajah two months
az festivity may follow II. In Singa'
pore. where cosmopolltanism has In
fected everything. the guests win be In
vited to feed one night on white mans
fare and yet another ON curry, Malay
fashion, with their fingers; the bride
win appear one night in an English
gown, the next as Chinese lady, and
then gray robed. gay sashed. as a
geisha girl; the bridegroom will be
driven around town In a buggy. But
up country In Malayland proper, where
these corruptions have hardly as yet
erept In. there win be only the decora.
tons Of houses with curtains and iiow-
ers. feastins. the staining Of inger 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 colored
beautiful and always AFFECT this henna
iye); and there viii be the brushing Of
forehead and hands with rice paste,
which forms an indispensable ingredi-
snt Of the medicine mans pot and
,which Is used on so many occasions to
avoid M luck This 10 preliminary.
Finally the morning before the sand
ing, which 10 the essential lay part Of
the wedding and the part ! was to see.
the legal and religious rite is perform
ed. a kind Of registry Office business,
where the dowry is paid over. conduct.
cd before the kathi. or Mohammedan
priest, 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 homewsrd; also, TO 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 Q o'clock the we'd
ding 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
the writer proceeds: On the next day
It 4 O'Clock In the afternoon the mar
Rage party reassembled. this time for
the ceremonial bathing. mandi tolak
bola, or mandi sampat to avert III
luck. The bridegroom. dressed in his
holiday silks and escorted by his
friends, went over TO the brides house,
where he has to live awhile under the
Eyes Of bis mother-in-law. There he
his attire for the shabby
clothes that are always reserved for
ablution and, with towel over his
passed into the inner room.
where his newly welded bride. also |
dressed In old clothes. awaited bis COM
ng. Amid the buzxing, clattering and |
laughing Of the mothers Of the kan
pong the pair grasp each the end OF a
and so united march out |
INTO the passage. The narrow passage
With the split bamboo floor is crowded
With excited women. and every one ex-
,ept the mazed victims Is laughing
md talking. They, poor things, sit
xith down turned faces, dumb, mo-
ionless, walking. sitting. standing, not
4 their own accord, but mechanically
ind under the compulsion Of eager
lands.
Bowl after bowl Of water Is poured
ver the bedraggled pair, strained
Trough the cocoanut fronds and the
10th. The milk OF the young cocoa
Iut is emptied after It. The cocoanut
boots and cloth are soaked and drip
ing. Two women continue 10 drench
be couple. but for the sheer comedy
nacted by the rest had not been pre-
ared, though | had expected some
hing from seeing my friend the rajah
or his official European khaki for
less elaborate than his silks
( yesterday was soon TO Learn.
he excited women having finished
18th the victims in chief, turned their
ttention TO the audience and vented
heir feelings by dousing every one
'ithin reach. the rajah and myself in
iuded. We could only retort with in
Tectual handfuls. while they were
I practieed arm and equipped with
asins. However, fortune favored us.
ften bamboo squirts, salted or pep
cred water or rice water are employ. I
!. The women lead the bride away :
,r a fresh toilet. The groom dOns his
lks again and waits. no short time, in I
le passage till his spouse shall have
nd her toilet completed TO the salts
lction OF the matrons. Once more the
ridegroom Is ushered inside, and he
I'D his bride are seated side by side,
J on the previous evening. The nasi
ami or rice Of accord is brought in and
aeed before them. They Just taste
the circle Of women lndulging the
bile In plquant reflections on the mar
ed state and the newly married couple
particular. An old latah woman Is
llyanized into Rroteenne ncfiYltY.