Numerous nations and ethnic groups have their own customs and traditions in all the spheres of their social and religious lives. The ceremony of wedding, and all the traditions connected with it, is of crucial importance for the society, and Malay people understand this as well as all other nations. The marriage is one of the brightest ceremonies that the Malayans celebrate (Lat, 2006), and this paper will examine all the aspects that precede this ceremony and are carried out during the latter.
First of all, the Malay celebrations of any holiday or traditional event are bright and rather crowded in the good sense of this word. For example, Fairy (2003) calls them “communal affairs” (Fairy, 2003). This is so, because the celebrations, especially those taking place in kampungs, i. e. Malay villages, are the events to which the whole populations of those kampungs are invited. There are even cases when a celebration of a wedding gathers the people from several kampungs at one house (Lat, 2006). As for Malay marriages in particular, they are usually celebrated in the brides’ house but the bride-grooms are the ones in charge of financing the whole ceremonies. The traditional Malayan marriage is usually preceded by the three stages of the relations that the couple should go through before wedding. These stages are called the Merisik, the Pertunangan, and the Akad Nikah in the Malayan language and mean Spying, Engagement, and Marriage Contract respectively (Pahang, 2009). Although, in the Western world the latter stage is a sign of the modernization of the society, in the Asian countries like Malaya the marriage contract is a traditional preamble to the wedding (Vinson, 1988).
Further on, the wedding ceremony is prepared by numerous people for several months. As it is usually planned by the couple and their families, it is not an issue to invite the bride’s or bride-groom’s relatives and friends for the assistance with cooking and ceremonial preparations. The duties during those preliminary activities are distributed between the male and female members of the couple’s families (Fairy, 2003). The men are usually engaged in the tasks that demand considerable physical power or knowledge of specific, usually aggressive, traditions like slaying a cow for preparing the meal for all the guests, or erecting the tents where the invited people will be placed for the ceremony and post-ceremonial dinner (Vinson, 1988). Women are busy with beautifying the bride’s house, cooking and preparing the bunga telur, i. e. the specially decorated boiled eggs, which are presented to every guest as a symbol of fertility for which the young couple hopes (Fairy, 2003).
Moving further, the people in charge of the wedding ceremony should keep to all the national traditions presupposed for such cases. First of all, there are special people responsible for the so-called handing the bride and the bride-groom to each other. These people are usually close relatives of the couple. However, before the handing takes place, the couple should create their wedding images, i. e. the bride-groom should wear his “baju Melayu, i. e. the ceremonial dress, with a sampan, a belt, wrapped around his waist” (Fairy, 2003). The bride’s beautifying takes much more time and effort as it involves “invigorating bath with assorted fragrant flowers, pulling out or shaving unwanted eyebrows, a modern hairstyle and of course application of make-ups to the face” (Pahang, 2009).
Finally, after all the preparations are completed and traditions kept to, the very wedding ceremony begins. As another custom requires, the wedding should be accompanied by the band playing the traditional ancient Malay music live with the help of gendang besaq and gendang kecik, i. e. the big and the small drums, a wind instrument serunai, and the gong (Fairy, 2003). The very ceremony is focused on the couple who, dressed in their ceremonial dresses, are seated in the center of the hall or a large tent where the celebration takes place and is further followed by the dinner. The wedding ceremony starts with “membatal air sembahyang” session during which the bride-groom puts the ring on the bride’s finger, and she kisses his hands as the ones of her rightful husband. Finally, the culmination of the marriage is the so-called Bersanding ceremony during which the newly-married couple is treated as the real Royals for the Day (Raja Sehari in Malayan). All the guests greet the couple with the happiest day in their lives, give them presents and participate in the ceremonial theatrical occurrence which is followed by the celebration dinner (Pahang, 2009).
To conclude, the marriage and the ceremonies connected with it in Malaya are based on the ancient traditions of this nation. The ceremony of wedding is preceded by the numerous preparations and customary activities to ensure the success of the marriage. The very ceremony is also carried out in a strict order of rituals demanding the conclusion of the marriage contract before proclaiming the couple to be husband and wife. Only after this, Raja Sehari can enjoy their being a family.
Works Cited
Fairy. “A Malay Wedding in the Kampung.” 2003. MyIndo.Com. Web.
Lat. Kampung Boy. First Second, 2006.
Pahang. “Delightful Traditional Malay Wedding in Pahang.” 2009. Pahang Delights. Web.
Vinson H. Sutlive, Jr. The Iban of Sarawak: Chronicle of a Vanishing World. Waveland Press, 1988.