are supposed to “hide themselves” when there is company, their place being
taken by more staid duennas, who are called Tukang Andam (i.e. “coiffeurs”),
and a personal attendant or nurse, called Ma’inang (Mak Inang), who appears to
act as a sort of Mistress of the Ceremonies.
The second day is spent by the guests (as was said above) in sleeping off their
night’s fatigue, and they do not reassemble till evening, at about five P.M.
When the last has arrived (at about seven P.M.) a meal is served, and at about
half-past eight the games recommence; but after a round or so (zikir sa-jurus),
say at about ten P.M., the bride at her house and bridegroom at his respectively
make their first appearance in public, clad in their wedding garments, for the
ceremony of staining the finger-nails, this time in public. When they are seated
(between the two candlesticks, which are lighted to facilitate the operation) a
tray is brought forward, furnished with the usual accessories of Malay magic,
rice-paste (tĕpong tawar), washed rice, “saffron” rice, and parched rice, to which
is added, in this instance, a sort of pudding of the pounded henna-leaves. A
censer is next produced, and a brass tray with a foot to it (called sĕmb’rip) is
loaded with nasi bĕrhinei (pulut or “glutinous” rice stained with saffron), in
which are planted some ten to fifteen purple eggs (dyed with a mixture of brazil
wood (sĕpang) and lime, and stuck upon ornamental sprays of bamboo decorated
with coloured paper). The bride (or bridegroom) is then seated in a “begging”
attitude, with the hands resting upon a cushion placed in the lap; the first of the
guests then takes a pinch of incense from the tray and burns it in the brazier
(tĕmpat bara); next he takes a pinch of parched rice, a pinch of newly-washed
rice, and a pinch of saffron rice, and, squeezing them together in the right fist,
fumigates them by holding them for a moment over the burning incense, and
then throws them towards the sitter, first towards the right, then towards the left,
and finally into the sitter’s lap.
The “Neutralising Paste”^81 is then brought and the usual leaf-brush dipped into
the bowl of paste, with which the forehead of the sitter and the back of each
hand are duly “painted.”
A pinch of the henna is then taken and dabbed upon the centre of each palm, the
hands of the sitter being turned over to enable this to be done.
The sitter then salutes the guest by raising his (or her) hands with the palms