Page 60 - Malayan Story
P. 60
MALAYAN STORY
“dukun”.
His duty was to heal the sick, and in the villages he was constantly consulted about serious
illnesses. The dukun was called in for less serious illnesses, but if the patient did not recover and
seemed to be getting worse, the bomo would be called. If he failed to effect a cure, the powerful
pawang would be consulted. All this was so much a part of their lives, and the fear of the spirits so
possessed them, that even when they became Christians it was hard to break away from it. One
new Christian even went to a necromancer to ask for a favourable day for her baptism!
Missionaries who had been in China felt that we had never seen so much superstition and demon
possession in one place as we found in the new villages of Malaya. This may have been because
people in a village were not all from one dialect speaking group in China. Three or four dialects
might be heard in one village and probably each group brought with them the superstitions and
customs of their part of China.
Chinese New Year at the beginning of the lunar calendar was celebrated in every Chinese village,
as was the Dragon Boat Festival on the 5th day of the 5th moon, and the Moon Festival on the 15th
day of the 8th moon. On the 7th day of the 7th moon the Seven Sisters’ Festival was actually a
Hakka festival, but it was kept in most villages as was the Hokkien festival in the 9th moon.
In every Chinese home there were ancestral tablets, and every Chinese child from babyhood was
taught to worship the spirits of the ancestors. When the subject came up for discussion in my Bible
Class and I tried to explain how a Christian should act, one of the girls exclaimed in horrified
tones, “But Mrs. Moore, I would starve if I didn’t eat the food offered to the ancestors.” It was a
difficult subject for any young person wanting to be a Christian.
Another common festival in the villages was the Feast of Hungry Spirits held on the 15th day of the
7th moon. Offerings of food were placed at street comers on the side of the road to feed the
wandering spirits. The festival often lasts for a whole month, and people are afraid to venture our
after dark for fear of meeting some of the wandering spirits. The Festival of the Winter Solstice,
held on the 2nd day of the 11th moon is more a Cantonese festival, but again many others kept it too.
Funeral customs varied with the different social status of the family. A spirit that has left the body
is always feared even though they may have been loved in life. Those with nobody to care for them
became wandering spirits, and that is why every Chinese family wants a son to carry on the work
the father has done in caring for the departed spirits in an unbroken perpetuity. The necromancer is
called in to decide on the proper day for the funeral and also the position in which the coffin is to be
placed in the grave. Priests come to chant for the safe conduct of the soul to Heaven on the 3rd, 5th
and 7th days and then every 7th day seven times until the 100th day, and again on the anniversary of
the death. That is the recognised duration of the mourning period. On the 21st day after the death,
the spirit is called back for a short time, but is then supposed to leave for ever.
60
“dukun”.
His duty was to heal the sick, and in the villages he was constantly consulted about serious
illnesses. The dukun was called in for less serious illnesses, but if the patient did not recover and
seemed to be getting worse, the bomo would be called. If he failed to effect a cure, the powerful
pawang would be consulted. All this was so much a part of their lives, and the fear of the spirits so
possessed them, that even when they became Christians it was hard to break away from it. One
new Christian even went to a necromancer to ask for a favourable day for her baptism!
Missionaries who had been in China felt that we had never seen so much superstition and demon
possession in one place as we found in the new villages of Malaya. This may have been because
people in a village were not all from one dialect speaking group in China. Three or four dialects
might be heard in one village and probably each group brought with them the superstitions and
customs of their part of China.
Chinese New Year at the beginning of the lunar calendar was celebrated in every Chinese village,
as was the Dragon Boat Festival on the 5th day of the 5th moon, and the Moon Festival on the 15th
day of the 8th moon. On the 7th day of the 7th moon the Seven Sisters’ Festival was actually a
Hakka festival, but it was kept in most villages as was the Hokkien festival in the 9th moon.
In every Chinese home there were ancestral tablets, and every Chinese child from babyhood was
taught to worship the spirits of the ancestors. When the subject came up for discussion in my Bible
Class and I tried to explain how a Christian should act, one of the girls exclaimed in horrified
tones, “But Mrs. Moore, I would starve if I didn’t eat the food offered to the ancestors.” It was a
difficult subject for any young person wanting to be a Christian.
Another common festival in the villages was the Feast of Hungry Spirits held on the 15th day of the
7th moon. Offerings of food were placed at street comers on the side of the road to feed the
wandering spirits. The festival often lasts for a whole month, and people are afraid to venture our
after dark for fear of meeting some of the wandering spirits. The Festival of the Winter Solstice,
held on the 2nd day of the 11th moon is more a Cantonese festival, but again many others kept it too.
Funeral customs varied with the different social status of the family. A spirit that has left the body
is always feared even though they may have been loved in life. Those with nobody to care for them
became wandering spirits, and that is why every Chinese family wants a son to carry on the work
the father has done in caring for the departed spirits in an unbroken perpetuity. The necromancer is
called in to decide on the proper day for the funeral and also the position in which the coffin is to be
placed in the grave. Priests come to chant for the safe conduct of the soul to Heaven on the 3rd, 5th
and 7th days and then every 7th day seven times until the 100th day, and again on the anniversary of
the death. That is the recognised duration of the mourning period. On the 21st day after the death,
the spirit is called back for a short time, but is then supposed to leave for ever.
60
