miniature green umbrella (made of cloth coated thickly with wax, and standing
from four to five inches in height) at the head of the image, and a small green
clove-shaped taper (of about the same height) at its feet. Then burn incense; take
three handfuls each of “parched,” “washed,” and “saffron” rice, and scatter them
thrice round the figure, saying as you do so:—
“O Flying Paper,
Come and fly into this cup.
Pass by me like a shadow,
I am applying the charm called the ‘Drunken Stars^145 ’
Drunken stars are on my left,
A full moon (lit. 14th day moon) is on my right,
And the Umbrella of Si Lanchang is opposite to me
Grant this by virtue of ‘There is no god but God,’” etc.The statement that this dough image should represent the opposite sex to that of
the patient should be received with caution, and requires further investigation to
clear it up. My informant explained that the “Flying Paper” (krĕtas layang-
layang) referred to the soul-cloth, and the “cup” to the image, but if this
explanation is accepted, it is yet not unlikely that a real cup was used in the
original charm. The “drunken stars” he explained as referring to the parched rice
scattered on his left, and the full moon to the eyes of the image. Arguing from
the analogy of other ceremonies conducted on the same lines, the wandering soul
would be recalled and induced to enter the so-called cup (i.e. the dough image),
and being transferred thence to the soul-cloth underneath it, would be passed on
to the patient in the soul-cloth itself.
Another way to recall a soul (which was taught me by ’Che ʿAbas of Kelantan)
is to take seven betel-leaves with meeting leaf-ribs (sirih bĕrtĕmu urat), and
make them up into seven “chews” of betel. Then take a plateful of saffron-rice,
parched rice, and washed rice, and seven pieces of parti-coloured thread (bĕnang
pancharona tujoh urat) and an egg; deposit these at the feet of the sick man,
giving him one end of the thread to hold, and fastening the other end to the egg.
The soul is then called upon to return to the house which it has deserted, is
caught in a soul-cloth, and passed (it is thought) first of all into the egg, and
thence back into the patient’s body by means of the thread which connects the
egg with the patient. The charm runs as follows:—