“In selecting timber for the uprights of a Malay house care must be taken to
reject any log which is indented by the pressure of any parasitic creeper which
may have wound round it when it was a living tree. A log so marked, if used in
building a house, will exercise an unfavourable influence in childbirth,
protracting delivery and endangering the lives of mother and child. Many
precautions must be taken to guard against evil influence of a similar kind, when
one of the inmates of a house is expecting to become a mother. No one may
‘divide the house’ (bĕlah rumah), that is, go in at the front door and out at the
back, or vice versâ, nor may any guest or stranger be entertained in the house for
one night only; he must be detained for a second night to complete an even
period. If an eclipse occurs, the woman on whose account these observances are
necessary must be taken into the pĕnangga (kitchen), and placed beneath the
shelf or platform (para) on which the domestic utensils are kept. A spoon is put
into her hand. If these precautions are not taken, the child when born will be
deformed.”
Sir W. E. Maxwell in the above is speaking of Perak Malays. The passage just
quoted applies to a great extent to Selangor, but with a few discrepancies. Thus a
house-post indented by a creeper is generally avoided in Selangor for a different
reason, viz. that it is supposed to bring snakes into the house.
“Dividing the house,” however, is generally considered an important birth-taboo
in Selangor, the threatened penalty for its non-observance being averted by
compelling the guilty party to submit to the unpleasant ceremony called sĕmbor
ayer, a member of the family being required to eject (sĕmbor) a mouthful of
water upon the small of the culprit’s back.
In Selangor, again, a guest must stay three nights (not two) in the house, his
departure on the first or second night being called “Insulting the Night”
(mĕnjolok malam). To avert the evil consequences of such an act, fumigation
(rabun-rabun) is resorted to, the “recipe” for it running as follows:—“Take
assafœtida, sulphur, kunyit t’rus (an evil-smelling root), onion skins, dried areca-
nut husk, lemon-grass leaves, and an old mat or cloth, burn them, and leave the
ashes for about an hour at sunset on the floor of the passage in front of the door.”
That a sensible and self-respecting “demon” should avoid a house where such an
unconscionable odour is raised is not in the least surprising!
In the event of an eclipse the customs of the two sister States appear to be nearly