Good afternoon.

Before I begin my talk about the topic I have

chosen, lets just think of how lucky we are to live in a such a
beautiful country, Malaysia. As a matter of fact, Malaysia is a
multiracial and multicultural country in the world. Here, people
strongly believe in respecting each others culture and religion.
Malaysia is unique because of its diversity of races, religion,
cultures and many more. One thing that makes me proud to be
a Malaysian is the amazing creation of stories and literature
such as Hikayat Melayu and Hikayat Hang Tuah. Today, as you
may have assumed, im going to share one of the popular
Traditional Malay tale and made my mind to upravel the
mystery behind the cultural dance masterpiece, which is the
Legend of Ulek Mayang.
The story of this dance began a long time ago. According to
legend, a band of fishermen living on an island off the East
coast of Terengganu went out to sea one evening to catch fish.
They rowed their sampans (narrow wooden boats) far out to
sea where suddenly, they encountered a terrible storm. The
wind blew unnaturally from every direction and waves crashed
into all their sampans.
All the fishermen were tossed violently into the sea, where
each of them struggled to keep their heads above the water
and swam with great difficulty towards the shore. One of the
young man finds himself being dragged deeper into the sea.
While he fights for his life, he hears a haunting song and two
lovely maidens appear before him. They charm him with their
beauty and their song and pull him deeper into the water.
However, the other fishermen managed to pull the young man
out of the sea and drag him to shore. They try their best to
revive him, to no avail. They look for a pawang (shaman) for
help. The pawang told them that although the young man is
alive, his spirit is still lost. The pawang burns some incense and
asks the other men to bring offerings such as mayang (long
sheaves of areca flowers) and rice coloured with turmeric.

The pawang began his incantations, when he became aware of

another presence. He was shocked when two beautiful young
women appear near the young man. The pawang realised that
they were two of the seven legendary princesses of the sea. A
battle of will ensued between the pawang and the two
princesses. When the two princesses realised that they were
about to lose, they summoned two more of their sisters. The
epic battle of will continued, and finally the four sisters
summoned two more sisters. The pawang felt his hold on the
young man's spirit slipping away, when the seventh Spirit
princess enters the showground. Far more beautiful, more
powerful and the wisest of her sisters, the bomoh takes this
opportunity to plea to her for the return of the fishermans
soul. Learning of the mischievous behaviour of her sisters, the
eldest Spirit Princess puts a stop to the battle.
I know all your origins, she tells and commands everyone,
Let those from the sea return to the sea, and those from the
land return to the land.
The seventh princess proclaimed that she knew the origins of
everyone present (when vanquishing demons/spirits it is always
necessary to know their true name and origin) and that those
who belong to the sea must return to the sea and those who
belong to land must return to the land. The six princesses have
no choice but to yield to their eldest sister, they relinquish their
hold on the young man. Then all seven spirit princesses walk
into the sea and vanish.

The young man regained consciousness with no knowledge of

what had just happened. However, he remembered a dream
where six beautiful princesses enchanted him. Greatful for the
realease of the fisherman soul, the pawang presents the spirits
with coloured rice

The legend of the Ulik Mayang is unravelled in an amazingly

choreographed folk dance, which was once a form of spiritual
worship, but now performed purely for cultural appreciation
and entertainment purposes.