heee..its been a while since my last entry. Actually,I just got back from a trip to the "Perkampungan Budaya Mah Meri, Pulau Carey, Kuala Langat".So, i'll share bout the trip on this entry.
Carey Island is a large flat island off the west coast of Peninsula Malaysia in the Kuala Langat district of Selangor state.
It is huge, about 32,000 acres or roughly a fifth of the size of Singapore. Although technically an island, it does not really feel like one since it is only separated from the 'mainland' by the Langat River which is not that wide in places.
From the tourist's point of view the main attraction on Pulau Carey is the aboriginal community, the Mah Meri, one of 18 Orang Asli tribes living in Malaysia (orang asli means original people).
This community of around 1400 people is famous for its unique wooden statues and masks carved from a rare red swamp hardwood called Nyireh Batu which belongs to the mahogany family.
There are said to be around 25 craftsmen and they can produce over 100 different designs, each with its own significance and purpose in their culture.
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| view inside the centre |
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| infront of the centre |
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| one of the view inside the centre |
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| The 'Rumah Sanggar' or altar were complete with food and drinks for the spirit of their relatives for protection seeking. |
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| En Rashid explained us the culture in the tribe |
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| monopod time! |
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| after a short journey in the village |
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| weeee...selfiee! |
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| one of the view inside the centre |
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| The dais were decorated with a variety of flowers of the spirit. The flower of spirits plays an important role in their wedding ceremony. Beside the dais, every step of the ceremony uses the flowers extensively from engagement, procession, to the cleansing ritual. |
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| the only craft that i can afford XD |
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Then we were brought to 'Rumah Moyang' the house of spirit.            |
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| The Mah Meri are one of the 18 groups named by the Malaysian government "Orang Asli" living in West Malaysia. They are of the Senoi subgroup. Most of the members of the Mah Meri tribe live along the coast of South Selangor from Sungei Pelek up to Pulau Carey, although there is at least one Mah Meri Community on the other side of the Klang River.The Mah Meri language, sometimes also called Besisi is one of the Mon-Khmer language group but has also borrowed from Malay.Most of the Mah Meri are animisme,only a few of them who convert into Muslim and Christian.Their children was named based on the ecological. |
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| What make this tribe differ from the other???Surprisingly,they dont believe in death.there are several suicidal occured in that village due to their believe.They also believe that female and male got the same rights.Females are allowed to marry more than one! |
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| starving!haha |
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| This is the stage when the groom have to circle the hiding place 7 times before choosing the right hand. In Mah Meri culture odd numbers is the chosen numbers in their everyday life. |
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| One of the most celebrated ceremony here by this tribe is the wedding!! En.Rashid ask one of our classmate to wear the wedding garments. The reason why the Mah Meri people couldn't perform this 'pretentious' wedding by their own is that it is against their culture and beliefs. We were enjoying the role play and understanding it better.Divorce are not allowed in their tribe.they said it was sinful.Marriage happen when the head of the familys will keep and exchange rings from both sides. |
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| wedding garments! |
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| food..haha |
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| the only craft that i can afford..T.T |
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| having a lot of fun there!Inside of the gallery. The visitors were allowed to take pictures of the exhibits.There are many unique sculpture of spirit were UNESCO Seal of Excellence Awarded.The image sculptured were not directly copy from surrounding images but from the dreams of their spirit giving the ideas of what they were trying to tell or predict in their life.So that was our end of trip. After thanking Encik Rashid, we heading back home after late evening.. |
