The Marriage of Mah Meri Tribe

Pulau Carey, Selangor: Most Indigenous people married at a young age, for men the age of 18 is the most suitable age for marriage and women are also at the age of 16 years and shall not be more than the age of the men and marriage is done by parent brides, ranging from ceremonial merisik until someone has a spouse legally.

There are also among the Indigenous people has been engaged since childhood, and usually the bride and groom having a brother like a cousin or second cousin or have the same tribe, also do not be a mistake if the groom is married to a woman from another tribe.

The ceremony charity Mah Meri also merisik, engagement and wedding such as the Malay community, not much difference between the wedding ceremony with indigenous tribes Mah Meri Malay community as it begins with a custom spy, sent a sign, proposed marriage and ending with the wedding.

The difference only maintain their customs and traditions dispel evil spirits in its own way, but held seances to tell fathers that their grandchildren will hold their wedding ceremony and the event was considered important to ensure that the wedding ceremony was safe, blessed and peaceful happiness to children and grandchildren.

“A day before the ceremony, the male party would come and transit in the neighbour’s house located near the brides’ house. This is the time when various ceremonies have to be carried out, namely the custom of menepung tawar (spring the rose water on the couples’ palms) to ward off evil spirits, teeth sharpening, surrendering tools to cast away bad luck, hanging the mosquito nett and henna ceremony,” said Alin one of the student Universiti Selangor.

She said, Tok batin will bring the groom to a council a proposal such as gold rings, makeup, waist bowl and utilities such as mortar and other stone. Groom and bride undergo dental hone culture, also sharpening the teeth is considered an important custom made. They also use a black cloth as a marker placed on the teeth spaced teeth that need to be sharpened and the ring will be used to hone uneven teeth and then smoked. It aims to make the bride will always shine and prevent tetanus during the wedding ceremony.

Among the unique wedding indigenous people have once the agreement and consensus in the council a proposal obtained, ritual eating betel and areca nut by Tok batin and second deputy two sides done as a sign of an end to the event, for Hantaran charged is RM44.40 for brides and grooms who are still virgins and for the widow is RM25.20.

“When the wedding took place, some customs held in conjunction with the function of lifting the bride, that is martial arts bout, around the mound, washing the feet, in rice or betel gomba designer and flower bath, however at the ceremony, the wedding ceremony began with the traditional Tok batin bring the groom turned circulating a group of girls with a mosquito net-covered bride and smoked with incense and the ceremony was to banish the demons and prevent bad things,” said Alin.

In addition, round seven times and on the last lap, the groom must get the bride and exchanging flowers and the selection was based on intuition without any pressure because the Mah Meri believe there is no compulsion in marriage.

Furthermore, the wedding ceremony ceremonial toss was as symbolic of the freedom bride determining the direction of life in the marriage and also eat civilized, observers will ensure the bride and groom to eat and ended up at the same time so that they live a happy and lasting forever because If one of the spouses eat advance between them, believed that would invite disasters in the future.

Hence, any other kind of ethnic wedding, they are also making preparations to provide the dais and they will decorate dais with woven palm leaves put a variety of patterns and bright coloured flowers in every corner of the stage, while a touch of palm leaves used by the indigenous people tribe Mah Meri is between uniqueness and difference are displayed with other indigenous tribes in the country.