generally made of “flowered satin” (siten bĕrbunga) in the case of the rich, or of
cloth dyed red with kasumba^85 (kain kasumba) in the case of the poorer classes.
This “wedding jacket” fits tightly round the neck, has a gold border (pĕndĕpun
’mas), is fastened with two or three gold buttons, and fits closely to the person;
the wealthy add a necklace or crescent-shaped breast-ornament (rantei mĕrjan or
dokoh) round the bride’s neck. She also wears bracelets (g’lang) and ear-rings
(subang) and perhaps anklets, of five different metals (kĕronchong
panchalogam). A silk sarong, which takes the place of a skirt, and is girt about
the waist with a waist-cord (but not usually, in Southern Selangor, fastened with
belt and buckle), and a pair of silk trousers, complete her attire.
The groom, on the other hand, is clad in his best jacket and trousers, with the
Malay skirt (sarong), fastened at the side, and girt above the knee (kain
kĕmbang). His head is adorned with the sigar, a peculiar head-dress of red cloth
arranged turbanwise, with a peak on the right-hand side, from which artificial
flowers (gunjei) depend, and which preserves its shape through being stuffed
with cotton-wool. Its border is decorated with tinsel, and it has a gold fringe
(kida-kida). Besides this head-dress the bridegroom has a small bunch of
artificial flowers (sunting-sunting) stuck behind each ear, whilst two similar
bunches are stuck in the head-dress (one on the right and the other on the left).
Bridegrooms, however, who belong to the richer classes wear what is called a
lester (=destar?), whilst former Sultans of Selangor are said to have worn a gold
cap (songkok leleng), which is reputed to have contained eighteen bongkal^86 (or
bungkal) of gold.
The remainder of the company are of course merely dressed in their best clothes.
The “Rice of the Presence” (nasi adap-adap) is now prepared for what is called
the astakona or sĕtakona, which may be described as a framework with an
octagonal ground-plan, built in three tiers, and made of pulai or mĕranti or other
light wood; it has a small mast (tiang) planted in the centre, with cross pieces
(palang-palang) in each of the upper stories to keep it in its place; the
framework is supported by four corner-posts, on which it is raised about a foot
and a half from the floor. The box thus formed is filled to the top with “saffron
rice” (nasi kunyit), and in the rice at the top are planted the aforesaid coloured
eggs. Into a hole at the top of the mast is fitted the end of a short rattan or cane,
which is split into four branches, each of which again is split into three twigs,