Wedding Traditions : Malay
Labels: Wedding Traditions
Malay weddings are culturally rich with meaningful ceremonies.
Merisik
Merisik literally means 'to spy' in Bahasa Melayu. In this ritual, the parents of the groom send a relative to the prospective bride's house to seek permission and blessings for the marriage. The parents of the bride do the same for the groom. The groom and bride are not present. During the merisik, both sets of parents also discuss the dowry and date of the wedding ceremony. This practise stemmed from the days when it would have been deemed inapproriate for the members of the opposite sex to meet (or date) before marriage.
Bertunang
Once both sets of parents agree to the marriage, the next step is to have the bertunang (engagement) ceremony. The groom's parents send the engagement ring and the dowry (hantaran) to the bride-to-be's home. The hantaran consists of a change of clothes for the bride, money, betel nut, sireh, sweets and pastries to sgnify a sweet married life for the couple.
Akad Nikah
This ceremony, where the kadi solemnises the wedding, takes place at the bride's home. The groom has to repeat the Ijab Kahbul (a contract that binds the bride to the groom) once to the father of the bride and a second time to the kadi.
The Bersanding
On the big day, the groom is escorted by a kampung procession to the bride's house where he is treated to a silat (a form of martial arts) performance before being ushered into the bride's home. The bride and groom are then invited to sit on a beautifully decorated dais called the pelamin. Once seated on the pelamin, the couple are blessed with tepung tawar by the relatives and guests, with wishes for a happy marriage and many children.
After the blessing ceremony, the couple called Raja Sehari, feed each other yellow glutinous rice to symbolise the unity of the newlyweds. (It is believe that the term Raja sehari - King and Queen for a day - dates back to the melaka Sultanate when there was a legal ruling that allowed newlyweds to dress is richly, like kings and queens just for the day)
Makan berdamai
Both the bride and groom's family then sit down together for a meal called makan berdamai. It literally means to 'eat in peace' as it is symbolically the first both the bride and groom have a meal together.
Merisik
Merisik literally means 'to spy' in Bahasa Melayu. In this ritual, the parents of the groom send a relative to the prospective bride's house to seek permission and blessings for the marriage. The parents of the bride do the same for the groom. The groom and bride are not present. During the merisik, both sets of parents also discuss the dowry and date of the wedding ceremony. This practise stemmed from the days when it would have been deemed inapproriate for the members of the opposite sex to meet (or date) before marriage.
Bertunang
Once both sets of parents agree to the marriage, the next step is to have the bertunang (engagement) ceremony. The groom's parents send the engagement ring and the dowry (hantaran) to the bride-to-be's home. The hantaran consists of a change of clothes for the bride, money, betel nut, sireh, sweets and pastries to sgnify a sweet married life for the couple.
Akad Nikah
This ceremony, where the kadi solemnises the wedding, takes place at the bride's home. The groom has to repeat the Ijab Kahbul (a contract that binds the bride to the groom) once to the father of the bride and a second time to the kadi.
The Bersanding
On the big day, the groom is escorted by a kampung procession to the bride's house where he is treated to a silat (a form of martial arts) performance before being ushered into the bride's home. The bride and groom are then invited to sit on a beautifully decorated dais called the pelamin. Once seated on the pelamin, the couple are blessed with tepung tawar by the relatives and guests, with wishes for a happy marriage and many children.
After the blessing ceremony, the couple called Raja Sehari, feed each other yellow glutinous rice to symbolise the unity of the newlyweds. (It is believe that the term Raja sehari - King and Queen for a day - dates back to the melaka Sultanate when there was a legal ruling that allowed newlyweds to dress is richly, like kings and queens just for the day)
Makan berdamai
Both the bride and groom's family then sit down together for a meal called makan berdamai. It literally means to 'eat in peace' as it is symbolically the first both the bride and groom have a meal together.
Posted by
Neoromantic
on
Friday, October 10, 2008
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