Saturday, July 12, 2008

Malay Wedding (Part I)

Coming from a Malay background, I am proud to say that we seriously know how to turn the wedding preparations and celebrations to a memorable and meaningful day in a lifetime of the newly-weds and also the people close to them. There are few stages to be considered in Malay’s wedding preparations, which are Merisik (to query), Meminang (to propose), Bertunang (engagement), Akad (declaration of marriage vows), and finally the wedding day itself.

Let starts of with Merisik. Merisik or also known as the process to query is done by the closest relatives of the man’s side, for example his aunt or uncle. The propose of this query is to make confirmation with the girl or the bride to be that she is not in any way attached to any guy or involved in any relationship whatsoever at the very moment. However, nowadays this stage of preparation seldom takes place anymore since couples already get to know each other and some even dated for years before deciding to get married.

After query, the groom’s relatives that act as his rep will once more come to the bride’s house but this time for a different reason, which is to Propose (Meminang). At this stage, both the groom and the bride’s side will discuss on the right date and time for the engagement. There will also be a discussion on the Hantaran (engagement gifts). Both sides will then confirm how many trays should be given by the groom and how many trays should the bride give in return.

A Picture of Hantaran


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