appealed to is repeatedly invited to eat and drink of the offerings placed before
him, as a master may be invited to eat by his servants. The intermediate stage
between the gift and homage theories is marked by an extensive use of
“substitutes,” and of the sacrifice of a part or parts for the whole. Thus we even
find the dough model of a human being actually called “the substitute” (tukar
ganti), and offered up to the spirits upon the sacrificial tray; in the same sense
are the significant directions of a magician, that “if the spirit craves a human
victim a cock may be substituted” and the custom of hunters who, when they
have killed a deer, leave behind them in the forest small portions of each of the
more important members of the deer’s anatomy, as “representatives” of the
entire carcase. In this last case the usual “ritualistic change may be traced from
practical reality to formal ceremony.” “The originally valuable offering is
compromised for a smaller tribute or a cheaper substitute, dwindling at last to a
mere trifling token or symbol.”^15
This homage-theory will, I believe, be found to cover by far the greater bulk of
the sacrifices usually offered by Malays, and the idea of abnegation appears to
be practically confined to votal ceremonies or vows (niat), in which the nature
and extent of the offering are not regulated by custom, but depend entirely upon
the wealth or caprice of the worshipper, there being merely a tacit understanding
that he shall sacrifice something which is of more than nominal value to himself.
Of the manner in which offerings are supposed to be received by the deity to
whom they are offered it is difficult to obtain very much evidence. I have,
however, frequently questioned Malays upon this subject, and on the whole
think it can very safely be said that the deity is not supposed to touch the solid or
material part of the offering, but only the essential part, whether it be “life,
savour, essence, quality” or even the “soul.”
It will perhaps be advisable, in order to avoid repetition, to describe a few of the
special and distinctive sub-rites which form part of many of the more important
ceremonies, such as (in particular), rites performed at shrines, the rite of burning
incense, the scattering of (or banqueting upon) sacrificial rice, and the
application of the “Neutralising” Rice-paste (tĕpong tawar).
Of the rites performed at shrines, Mr. Blagden says: “The worship there, as with
most other kramats, consists of the burning of incense, the offering of nasi
kunyet (yellow rice), and the killing of goats; but I also noticed a number of live