Describe a day at a wedding ceremony.

There are many kinds of wedding solemnization in Malaysia since Malaysia consists of many
races like Malay, Chinese, Indian and many others. However I will briefly highlight / describe in
depth on Malays tradition because I had attended my Malay neighbours wedding celebration or
ceremony recently.

Last March, my neighbour Pakcik Din held a wedding ceremony for his daughter. They live
just in front of my house and the ceremony was held at their house. The preparation for the
ceremony was already started a week earlier before the day of ceremony so the arrangement can
be made in advance. Pakcik Din gathered neighbours and his relatives for a meeting. The meeting
was held to manage and distribute works and tasks for the Hari Bersanding or wedding day .The
job description between men and women is the very first thing to do in gotong-royong. Majority of
the neighbours worked together helping Pakcik Din and his family in preparing all stuffs needed for
the ceremony and solemnization day. It is already became a tradition in my housing estates to sit
together and helped each other when an event is held.

Dressed in my best, I went along with my family to the bride's home where the 'Bersanding'
ceremony was held. There were beautiful coloured flowers and the garden was decorated too. I
found flowers everywhere and guests were milling around. The enthronement ceremony began
with the groom's procession with friends, relatives, musicians and people waving bunga manggar
to meet the bride. Often various good-humoured attempts are made to waylay or stop the groom
from getting to the bride. The main part of the bersanding involves the seating of the bridal couple
on a dais and sprinkling them with yellow rice and scented water by family members, relatives and
guests as a sign of blessing.

One of the most interesting parts was when a kompang group started beating their kompangs
and entered the garden. Each guest would receive a bunga telur which is a decorated egg with a
fabric flower, as a sign of fertility. On that day, most gifts were commercially prepared and might
take the form of chocolates, jelly, cakes and even fruits. The couple are considered royalty for the
day, and so various royal customs are performed for them, including musicians playing court
music and 'bodyguards' performing a display of pencak silat which is one of the traditional Malay
martial arts. Then, the master of ceremony said prayers and everyone was ready for the kenduri.
The feast prepared had all the traditional dishes of beriyani, kurma, dalca with salad and rendang.

Next, I will describe on what had happened in the evening. In the evening, the guests were getting
lesser around 4 pm. Then, we helped Pakcik Din and his family cleaned all tables and chairs, collected and
threw the rubbish and many more. Everybody was tired after the ceremony was done but we were
extremely happy because we managed to contribute something to Pakcik Din and his family. We were glad
because the solemnization and the wedding ceremony went out very well and smoothly as we planned. I
prayed and hope that Pakcik Dins daughter will be happily married with her husband.

Briefly, there are numerous values and good deeds were implemented throughout this wedding
ceremony and one of them is the value of cooperation. As we can see, all works from the beginning until
the end of the ceremony are beautifully done by the manner of gotong-royong. These can strengthen the
friendship and togetherness between the neighbours and relatives. Plus, the guests invited are coming
from various races whether Chinese or Indian. There were also lots of Malay customs or rituals and
traditions are practiced during the wedding ceremony. It is good to retain all the cultures however as the
Malays are Muslim, the wedding ceremony should be performed according to the Islamic principles with a
blend of local Malay customs. The description of the Malay wedding ceremony described the uniqueness
of the wedding ceremonies in Malaysia.