Orang Asli

What is Orang Asli?

= The indigenous minority people of Peninsular Malaysia

which is a Malay term meaning original people or first people

Birth

A husband will inform his neighbours immediately when his wife is in

labour pain. The women folk will go to his house to help.

Orang Asli do not like visitors who praise his new born baby. It is
believed that if a baby gets praises like the baby is so cute , the words
will be heard by ghosts nearby who will come and take the baby away.
This is proven if the baby falls sick or has a fever.

Childrens names are named after tree, plant, stream or place near
which the babies are born OR after an event which occurred around the
time of birth

EG: pelam (mangifera), kedondong (canarium) tree, @ river in forest.

Fish: puyu (pandarus), tilam (tyrpauchen), lampam (gelonium) @ ikan

putih (mystacoleucus)

 Disposing

of placenta:

- Placenta is washed. Mixed with turmeric, white

pepper, lengkuas, incense, charcoal and salt.
-

Put it in a hole, a foot in depth

Buried near the house in level ground

Hole is fenced up & a lighted lamp is left for 7

consecutive days

Stump of babys cord when it drops off is kept in house.

1 or 3 small seeds of black pepper are inserted & wrapped with white cloth &
hung over a fireplace in house

With the idea of protecting the babys health

If baby suffers from frequent sickness:

The umbilical stump is dipped into a glass of water

The water is given to the baby to drink.

When the baby has learned to crawl, the umbilical cord is given to him to
play with

If its lost, no one bothers about it.

 Rationale

of the custom:

Buried

placenta & stump of umbilical cord are

believed to be brothers of the baby.

If

the child is allowed to play with his brother, the

latters disappearance is regarded with resignation;
that he wished to go away.

Marriage

The wedding ceremony (nikah) differs from tribe to tribe.

EG, for the Orang Asli in Selangor , both bride and groom
must listen to the advice given by whoever present at the
ceremony, especially the elders.
Such advice are mainly on the responsibilities of husband and
wife, and may last for hours.
Seldom issue formal invitation to wedding reception.
Every one in the village and those from nearby villages will
attend without formal invitation.
Rice and food will be served to all the guests until the food
runs out.

Pregnancy
Semai

tribe (Senoi ethnic):

1.

Pregnant woman eats alone.

2.

Rodent may be eaten if caught by her husband

@ her relative & she must eat the whole rodent
herself.

3.

Fish must be caught by a near relative & with a

casting net or fish trap for speared fish

4.

Fish killed by bombing the river may not be

eaten

Orang Ulu customs:

1.

Working at dawn & sunset ought to be avoided.

= Believed that spirit of baby is sleeping & should not be annoyed

= If still insists on working, the baby will be exhausted when its
delivered
2.

Pregnant woman cannot laugh at a monkey for its behaviour @ its

appearance.

= Feared if her unborn baby might resembled behaviour & appearance

of monkey

Death

When informed of any death in the village, all work such as farming,
hunting or building house will be stopped immediately.

According to the Orang Asli belief, anyone who continues to work after
being informed of a death will fall sick or meet with a disaster.

When there is a death in the village, all the children will smear their ears
with chalk cast with spell.

Charcoal is swept at the eye brows, chest and soles of the feet.

In this way, all the ghosts and devils believed to have killed the
deceased will not disturb the children who have put on the
pengandang. The pengandang is very important especially during
night time.

The body of the deceased will be accompanied by a large number of

the villagers to the burial ground.

After burial is completed, the family of the deceased will bring food
and set a fire at the side of the grave every day for 6 days.

At the same time, a small fire underneath the house of the deceased
will be set.

Fine sand cast with spell will be thrown all around the walls of the
house, hoping that these will get into the eyes of any ghost that may
still remain in the house.

This practice will also go on for 6 days because the spirit of the
deceased is believed to be still in the house and the grave during this
period.

*Sunny Shower

Orang Ulu (Jakun) fear hujan panas

Because = shows sign of bad luck

During sunny shower, all kinds of hantu especially jembalang tanah

emerge from their abodes

No ones permitted to go outside for fear of being attacked by hantu.

Which will bring fever, influenza or madness.

IF he/she on the road & theres sunny shower, he has to take small
leaf, spit on it 3 times, then insert it in his right ear