A MALAY WEDDING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5861, 1 May 1897, Page 7

A MALAY WEDDING.

In July, 1893 (writes Mr Hugh Clifford, of Singapore, in " East Coast Sketches"), a feast in honour of a wedding was being held, and the scene was a lively one. The head and skin of a buffalo, and the pools of blood which showed where its carcase had been dismembered, were a prominent feature in the foreground. The bride, of course, having been dressed in her best, and loaded with gold" ornaments, borrowed from many miles around, which had served to deck every bride in the district ever since anyone could remember, was left seated on the geta, or raised sleeping platform on the dimly-lighted inner apartments, there to await the ordeal known to Malay cruelty as sanding. The bride and bridegroom — who are officially supposed never to have seen one another before, though no Malay who respects himself ever allows his fiancee to be finally selected until he has crept undar her house in the night time and watched her through the bamboo flooring, or through the chinks in the wattled walls — are then brought together for the first time. They are led forth by their respective relations, and placed side by sid6 upon a dais prepared for the purpose, where they remain seated for hours, while the guests eat a feast in their presence, and thereafter chant verses from the Koran. < During this ordeal they must sit motionless, no matter how their cramped legs may ache and throb, and their eyes must remain downcast and fixed upon their liands, which, scarlet with henna, lie motionless, one on each knee. * * * It is a point of honour for the man to try to catch an occasional glimpse of his fiancee out of the corner of his eyes, without turning his head a hair's breadth, and without appearing to move an eyelash. The bridegroom is conducted to the house of his bride, there to. sit in state, by a band of his relations and friends, some of whom sing shrill verses from the Koran, while others rush madly ahead, charging, retreating, capering, dancing, yelling and hooting, brandishing naked weapons, and engaging in a most realistic sham fight with the bride's relations and friends, who rush out of their compound. to meet them, and do not suffer themselves to be routed until -they have made a fine show of resistance. This custom doubtless has its origin in the fact that in primitive states of 1 society a 'man must seek a wife at his risk and peril, for among the Sakai in some of the wilder parts of the country the girl is still placed upon an ant hill and ringed about by her relations, who do not suffer her fiancee to win her until his head has been broken in several places.