Note 38 — Chapter VI · Magic Rites as affecting the Life of Man

“When I arrived (about two P.M.), in company of the headman referred to, the usual dancing and Korān-chanting was proceeding in the outer chamber or verandah, which was decked out for the occasion with the usual brilliantly coloured ceiling-cloth and striped wall-tapestry. After a short interval we were invited to enter an inner room, where a number of Malays of both sexes were awaiting the performance of the rite. The first thing, however, that caught the eye was a gracefully-draped figure standing with shrouded head, and with its back to the company, upon the lowest step of the dais (g’rei), which had been erected with a view to the prospective wedding ceremony. This was the bride. A dark-coloured veil, thrown over her head and shoulders, allowed seven luxuriant tresses of her wonderful raven-black hair to escape and roll down below her waist, a ring of precious metal being attached to the end of each tress. Close to the bride, and ready to support her, should she require it, in her motherly arms, stood the (on such occasions) familiar figure of the Duenna (Mak Inang), whose duty, however, in the present instance was confined to taking the left hand of the bride between her own, and supporting it in a horizontal position whilst each of the seven Representatives (orang waris)38 in turn was sprinkling it with the ‘Neutralising Rice-paste’ (tĕpong tawar) by means of the usual bunch or brush of leaves. A little in front of this pair stood a youth supporting in his hands an unhusked cocoa-nut shell. The crown of this cocoa-nut had been removed, and the edges at the top cut in such a way as to form a chevroned or ‘dog-tooth’ border. Upon the indentations of this rim was deposited a necklace, and a large pair of scissors about the size of a tailor’s shears were stuck point downwards in the rim. The cocoa-nut itself was perhaps half-filled with its ‘milk.’ Close to this youth stood another, supporting one of the usual circular brass trays (with high sides) containing all the ordinary accessories of the tĕpong tawar ceremony, i.e. a bowl of rice-paste, a brush of leaves, parched rice, washed saffron-stained rice, and benzoin or incense.