Malay Magic _ Being an introduction to the - Walter William Skeat

(Perpustakaan Sri Jauhari) #1

(or, at a royal wedding, ambor-ambor—i.e. clippings from a thin sheet of silver
or gold which are thrown among the crowd as largess).


PLATE   14.—POKO’   SIRIH.

Presentation    “betel-leaf trees”  (poko’  sirih), said    to  have    been    formerly    carried in  procession  at
weddings. These so-called “trees” are made of betel-leaves ingeniously arranged, and are
called (from their patterns) sirih jantong (or “heart betel”); sirih gua (or “cave betel”); sirih
palita (or “lamp betel”), the heart betel being on the left. The birds at the top of each “tree” are
hornbills.

Page    382.

Meanwhile the bridegroom persists until his efforts are crowned with success,
and he makes his way (assisted possibly by some well-meant act of treachery on
the part of the garrison) to the reception room, when the mat already referred to
is unrolled and the white cloth suspended over it. Here the bridegroom takes his


seat and the priest comes out to perform the wedding ceremony.^89 This,
strangely enough, is performed with the bridegroom alone, the priest saying to
him in the presence of three or four witnesses and his surety (wali), generally his

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