Malay Magic Being an introduction to the folklore and...

Your stalk is gold,

Your grain is fine gold.”

I have not been able to discover what ’mas rantian means, as the Pawang could not explain it (though she insisted that it was right), and it is not in any dictionary. ↑

214 The Muhammadan name for the Founder of Christianity. ↑

215 During the performance of this part of the ceremony (which is called chĕrangkan tali t’rap) omens are taken as to the prosperity or otherwise of the people of the house, and the observations have therefore to be made with the greatest care. The most disastrous omen is the cawing of a crow or rook; next to this (in point of disastrous significance) comes the mewing cry of the kite, and, thirdly, the flight of the ground-dove (tĕkukur). A good omen is the flight of the bird called the Rice’s Husband (Laki Padi), but the best omen is the absence of any portent or sound, even such as the falling of a tree, the crackling of a branch, or a shout in the distance, all of which are harbingers of misfortune of some sort. ↑

216 The Pawang said to me afterwards, when I questioned her about this, “If you want your husked rice to be white and smooth (puteh lanchap) you must stand up facing the sun at nine o’clock (angkat kĕning, lit. ‘Raise the eyebrow’), turn up the whites of your eyes, swallow the water in your mouth, and your rice will be smooth and white and easily swallowed. But if you want it to be a little rough (kĕsat), so that you may not be tempted to eat too much of it during hard times, instead of directly swallowing the water in your mouth, you must put the tip of your tongue to the roof of your mouth, and contract the throat thrice, slowly swallowing as you do so.” To the above she then added: “Besides this, you can make the whole field of rice break into waves by standing up, clapping the hands, and then pushing each hand right up the sleeve of the opposite arm (I am not quite sure if I rightly understood this last, but am fairly certain that it is correct—my notes have only ‘run the hands up the arms’), saying as you do so:—

“Al-salam ʿaleikum,

Waman wamat,

Paku amat,

Wathohar.”

This will swell the grains, and prevent them from getting empty (minching, jangan banyak hampa).” ↑

217 This umbrella had been forgotten, and we were compelled to wait while one of the “bearers” returned to the house to fetch it; as without it, I was told, the Rice-child could not be escorted home. ↑

218 I was told by the Pawang that when the three reapers had each filled her basket, each of them tied the leaves of the rice clumps together, and dug up a lump of earth with the great toe of the left foot, and inserting the lump into the midst of each clump, repeated the following words:—

“Al-salam ʿaleikum, nabi ’Tap, yang mĕmĕgangkan bumi!

Tĕtapkan anak aku,

Jangan rosak, jangan binasakan

Jauhkan dĕripada Jin dan Sheitan

Dĕngan la-ilaha,” d.s.b.

“Peace be with you, Prophet ’Tap, in whose charge is the earth,

Confirm this my child.

Do it no harm or scathe,

But remove it far from Demons and Devils.

By virtue of,” etc.

↑

219 A cat having given birth to kittens the night before the ceremony, I was told by the Pawang that it was a very good sign, and that it was a known rule that if there was nobody else who could bear children at the time, God was wont to substitute a cat (mĕnggantikan kuching). ↑

220 The drying usually takes longer, but the exceptional heat of the sun on the day in question enabled the operation to be hastened. ↑

221 Nothing of the male sex may stand or sit opposite the point of the sieve (nyiru) during this winnowing. ↑

222 The charms are the same as those given supra, viz. “A swallow has fallen,” etc., and “Herons from all this region.” They are in the pantun form, and accordingly there is little connection discernible between the first and the second half of the quatrain; the latter always contains the actual point, the former at most something analogous or remotely parallel. ↑

223 The extreme voluminousness of Malay folk-lore upon the subject of rice-planting makes it impossible to do more than give a general idea of the ceremonies described. The ceremonies, however, are comparatively homogeneous in all parts of the Peninsula, and the specimens given may be taken as fairly representative. In the Appendix (xciii. seqq.), will be found a number of invocations, collected by Mr. O’Sullivan and myself, which are addressed to the rice-spirit and may help to emphasise or explain some of the details. One of these invocations should certainly help to emphasise the strength of the anthropomorphic conception of the Rice-soul as held by Malays. It runs as follows (vide App. cx.):—

“Cluck, cluck, soul of my child!

Come and return home with me,

Our agreement has reached its term.

Let not the Heat afflict you,

Let not the Wind afflict you.

Let not Mosquitoes bite you,

Let not Sandflies or Midges bite you.”

224J.R.A.S., S.B., No. 16, pp. 303–320. ↑

225Report on the Geology and Physical Geography of the State of Pêrak, by Rev. J. E. Tennison-Wood, F.G.S., F.L.S., etc. ↑

226 The mining contractor, also called towkay lombong and towkay labur, vide infra. ↑

227 Lit. “Taboo language.” ↑