For the first two months or so, whenever the child is bathed, it is rubbed over
with a paste obtained by mixing powdered rice with the powder obtained from a
red stone called batu kawi. This stone, which is said by some Malays to take its
name from the Island of Langkawi, is thought to possess astringent (k’lat)
qualities, and is used by Malay women to improve their skin. Before use the
paste is fumigated with the smoke of burning eagle-wood, sandal-wood, and
incense, after which the liquid, which is said to resemble red ink, is applied to
the skin, and then washed off, no doubt, with lime-juice in the ordinary way.
In the cold water which is used for bathing the child are deposited a big iron nail
(as a “symbol of iron”), “candle-nuts” and cockle-shells (kulit k’rang), to which
some Malays add a kind of parasite called si bĕr’nas (i.e. Well-Filled Out, a
word applied to children who are fat, instead of the word gĕmok, which is
considered unlucky) and another parasite called sadingin or si dingin, the “Cold”
one.
After bathing, the Bidan should perform the ceremony called sĕmbor sirih,
which consists in the ejecting of betel-leaf (mixed with other ingredients) out of
her mouth on to the pit of the child’s stomach, the ingredients being pounded
leaves of the bunglei, chĕkor, and jĕrangau, and chips of brazil-wood, ebony,
and sugar-palm twigs (sĕgar kabong); to these are sometimes added small
portions of the “Rough” bamboo (buluh kasap), of the bĕmban balu, and of the
leaf-cases of the areca-palm (either upih b’lah batang or upih sarong).
The child is generally named within the first week, but I have not yet heard of
any special ceremony connected with the naming, though it is most probably
considered as a religious act. The name is evidently considered of some
importance, for if the child happens to get ill directly after the naming, it is
sometimes re-adopted (temporarily) by a third party, who gives it a different
name. When this happens a species of bracelets and anklets made of black cloth
are put upon the child’s wrists and ankles, the ceremony being called tumpang
sayang.
A few days later the child’s head is shaved, and his nails cut for the first time.
For the former process a red lather is manufactured from fine rice-flour mixed
with gambier, lime, and betel-leaf. Some people have the child’s head shaved
clean, others leave the central lock (jambul). In either case the remains of the red
lather, together with the clippings of hair (and nails?) are received in a rolled-up