The Wedding

My wedding was nothing like Ujang's. Mine was a very simple affair. If i had it my way, we would not even have the bersanding and berdulang. Maybe not even the nasi minyak whatnots. The simpler the better, i thought and Yamtuan too readily agreed.

Yamtuan's brother, Ujang is different story altogether. His wedding was on such a grand scale. Theories why it became such a big event.
1. Maybe because Ujang is 38 and had 3 broken engagements before, and EG is 36 so their union is an event that both families were really looking forward too.
2. The families are neighbors. It had been such a long time since the kampung had its last arranged marriage from within the kampung. All the old folks were excited at the prospect of having a procession between the two houses - just like the old times.
3. Both families are adat-strong. One Selemak and the other, uppish suku Biduanda.

I was ultra excited too. I have always been a stickler for adat, budaya and language. I so looked forward to a proper pepatih wedding.

Nikah was to be done at the kampung's mosque. But Ujang was to wait at home for the bride's representative to come invite him over. And so we waited at home. Ujang with his light yellow baju melayu and the rest of us in our best baju kurung and head covers. We had 'lelangit' ready in one corner in the living room. A pink piece of fabric were hung up high covering the ceiling and there were skirtings as well to cover half the walls. A 'peminangan' was put underneath it. Peminangan is really just a set of tepak sirih. It looks very old, solid brass i think. Must have been handed down over many generations.

And then they arrived, with keris and their own set of peminangan. Sirihs were shared and chewed diligently and the bride's family asked whether Ujang would honor his promise. I think, at this point, no one in his right mind would dare change his mind, what with the keris and the misai and the muscles of the men sent.

At the mosque, proper ayats were recited and the Imam read from a book, 'dan takutlah kamu kepado Tuhan kamu dengan setakut-takutnyo, sesungguhnyo, Dio lah yang etc etc...'
And so Ujang wed kak EG, with janji bersaksi, ijab berwali.

That night they had a berinai ceremony, complete with caklempong and pantun/puisi recited spontaneously in the beautiful language of 'o'. I love it! I love it!

For bersanding the next day at EG's place, all the Undangs attended too. Twelve flags, for each of the twelve suku(s) were erected. The twelve flags were sandwiched by two lembings. The lembings were most interesting to me. There were locks of real human hair tied to the lembings near the blade! I asked Yamtuan the story behind the lembings and the flags but he could not answer. Were the kampung folk cannibals? Whose hair is that? Why?

Bersanding ceremony at our place, the female members of EG's family came in their baju kurung and samping songket. Interesting. After the tepung tawar and all, there was a 'menyombah' session ~ Ujang introduced his bride to all the female members in his family. For each, there were gifts of penganan ~ dodol and wajik.

I love it. I love it.

'bang, kenapa kenduri kita tak macam ni? Takde keris, lembing, bendera, undang, penganan?'
'kau oghang takdo suku'
'anak kita suku tak?'
'nak masuk suku, ado adat eh. Kono berkadim. Budak-budak masuk suku, kau soghang takdo suku'
'mini boleh kadim-kadim tak?'
'tak buleh. kalo nak kono bosunat laie.'

Ohhhhh, maybe not lah hoh?