WEDDING (MALAY AND INDIANS CULTURES)

A wedding ceremony is a ceremony that being held in order to cherish or celebrate the
happy moment for a couple or for the united of two male and female who had been into a
marriage. The wedding aspect is closely related to both religion and customs. In fact, they are
greatly intertwined between cultures, ethnic group, religion, countries, and social classes only
just for a wedding ceremony. In a wedding ceremony, there are a few common threads that
being shared by a few cultures and traditions.
In this paper, our group would like to compare between the wedding
ceremony tradition for Malay people and the Indian as well. There are a few things
that both cultures shared the common threads such the engagement concept. In
Malays tradition, a marriage will be begin with the proses of Adat Merisik. It is a
process that representative by the respected member of the grooms side to visit
the prospective future brides family. It is to learn about her background and her
marital status. He is usually accompanied by a small entourage bearing gifts. In
Indian culture, they also have the process of the grooms family visit the future
bride family. It is also a process whereby to investigate about the status of the girl.
It is called as Bariksha ceremony when the brides parent informally shown
intentions that they want a particular groom and there is an agreement between
both families (CulturalIndia.net, 2014). This is an important part of Indians culture
as many aspects being considered such as ethnicity, sub-ethnic, caste and religion.
In addition, other factors such as economic status and social status include aspects
such as age, education level, type of work, ethics and morality, looks and family
background is also important.
In addition, for Indians cultures, they also have the process of pre-wedding
called as engagement which also contains in the Malays culture at the same time.
Engagement ceremony is such ceremony which marks the beginning of the wedding
concord. It is also known as the 'sagai' ceremony or ring ceremony. It is one of the
first ceremonies that take place between the two families of both the bride and
groom. The engagement ceremony is basically a brief ritual wherein the couple
exchanges gold rings. This ensures both the parties that the girl and the boy are
now hooked. This is why it is also called the ring ceremony. It is same goes to Malay
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culture in which they also have the engagement process before the date of the
marriage being set (Ho, 2014). In 'adat bertunang' or engagement, both of sides will
talk and determined the date of marriage contract (akad nikah) will be discussed in
engagement custom. It is also to confirm that the bride to be will be marrying the
groom and they are hooked as well.
Furthermore, the Malays tradition has the custom of giving the dowry just
same as the Indians tradition, but the dowry quite different as both cultures are
influenced by their own belief to the divine. in the other hand, for Malay tradition
gifts are exchanged between the couple and as well as the amount of mas kahwin
or the amount of the dowry that being agreed upon between the family .The prewedding meeting takes place between the bride's and the groom's parents where
the dowry or Maher as well as the date of the solemnization is discussed.

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dowry also can be given after the process of solemnization or Akkad. The groom
signs the marriage contract and agrees to provide the bride with a mas kahwin in
which (mahar, literally 'marriage gold' in form of money or goods or anything as
requested by the bride). It is opposite to dowry where the mas khawin is paid by the
groom to the bride. The dowry is a symbol to show that the men are willing and are
prepared to build a family with the lady he chose to get married to. It is different in
the Indian's culture where the dowry should be given by the bride to the groom. It is
quite different to the Malays culture as in their culture the family wealth was
divided only among the sons and not the daughters. So the father of the bride
would give a share of his property to his daughter willingly as a token of his love
towards her at the time of her marriage.

FUNERAL (Malay and Indians cultures)

According to the Merriam Webster, funeral is defined as the observances held for a dead
person usually before burial or cremation. Commonly, a funeral ritual tradition for every religion
is different. The ritual of the funeral will be carried according to the rules of the religion.
Generally, Hindus believe that life and death are part of the concept of samsara, or rebirth.
There is an ultimate goal for many Hindus which is to become free from desire, thereby
escaping samsara and attaining moksha, the transcendent state of salvation. They believe that
once moksha is attained, the soul will be absorbed into Brahman, the divine force and ultimate
reality.
When there is a death occurs in Hindu, the family will call a priest. After that, the priest
and the family will gather and be with the dying person. Besides that, those present will chant
mantras or play a recording of mantras. The concept of reading mantras is the same with
Muslim. Muslim also will recite Quran during a funeral. The reason behind this ritual of reading
mantras for Hindus and reciting Quran for Islam is because the family members want to keep
the deceased away from the evil spirit. Other than that, the deceased must be keep protected
before it will going through cremation or bury the deceased.
According to a person that we had interviewed in Little India, Klang, when death seems
imminent, the body should, if possible, be transferred to a grass mat on the floor. A small
amount of water from the Ganges River should be placed in the dying persons mouth. This is to
make sure the deceased can have its supply for the next life. If this is not possible before death,
then these actions should take place immediately following the death. Other than that, those
gathered will avoid unnecessary touching of the body, as it is seen as impure. The preparations
for the funeral will begin immediately by the next dusk or dawn. In Islam, the funeral also must
be done immediately because it is not good to keep the deceased for a long time. This is
because it is not good to keep the body for a long period since it will be expose to evil spirit.
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Usually in Hindus, the body is washed by family members and close friends. If there is
no family member, the funeral home will wash and dress the body. For the ritual washing, the
deceaseds head should be facing southward. This ritual is the same as in Islam. In Islam, the
body is also will be wash by the family members, close friend or neighbor. But, the person who
wants to wash the body must be the same gender as the deceased unless that person is the
wife or husband. The body must be wash just by the family members or same gender as the
deceased because to protect the bodys pride. Besides that, the deceased also must be wash
clean because to get ready to meet the creature.
Commonly, all Hindusexcept babies, children, and saintsare cremated. Here, I have
a stereotype that all Hindus will burn the deceased. This is because the influenced from the
movie that I have watched. But, I got some new knowledge from the person we had interviewed
at the Little India, Klang. He said that some Hindus do bury the dead body but the common is to
cremate the body, collect the ashes and release it in a river. Hindus cremate the dead body
because in Hindus, death only applies only to the physical, not to the soul since they had a
belief of rebirth concept. Compared to Islam, there is no believe in rebirth concept. This is
because once a person died there will be no soul and just the dead body. That is why Muslim
will bury the deceased at the Islam graveyard.
So, Hindus funeral ritual is quit the same with Islam in certain aspect. For example, the
rules during bathing the dead body which only the family members or same gender is allowed
because in order to protect the deads pride. Next is the duration to keep the deceased which
the preparation should be done immediately. The preparation for death must be done
immediately in order to protect the body from evil spirit.

RELIGIOUS/SPIRITUAL PRACTICES (Malay and Indians culture)

The religious life of many Hindus is focused on devotion to God (perceived as Brahman,
Shiva, Vishnu, or Shakti) or several gods. This devotion usually takes the form of rituals and
practices associated with sculptures and images of gods in home shrines. According to the
Vedas, the eternal tradition is founded by none other than God himself in the very beginning of
creation. It has been practiced by not only humans but also demons and celestial beings. Here,
I also have another stereotype in Hindus. I had a thought that all Hindus devoted themselves to
the same god. But, a person that we had interviewed at the Little India, Klang stated that they
devoted themselves to any god that they want. This is totally different with Islam because
Muslim only has one God which is Allah. Hindus devoted themselves to any kind of god
because in their religious, any creature that is good or give them many benefits will call a god.
For example, a cow. Hindu people are also belief that a cow is a god because it supplies food
and the milk. This is why Hindus did not eat cow meat.
In Hindus, they have a prayer called Puja. Puja is defined as a Hindu act of worship or
propitiation to make an offer or sacrifice for relief from terrible problem (Merriam Webster).
Hindus will do a Puja or prayer in every morning and evening. In the morning, Hindus will
perform a Puja after bathing and dressing but prior to taking any food or drink. Puja is seen as a
way of relating humans to the domain and actions of the divine, and can be performed for
anything considered divine, from Vishnu to a holy tree. Their temple is close during afternoon
and will be open on 5 p.m. Compared to Islam, the Hindus prayer time is quit the same with
Islam which are at the dawn and after the sunset. But, Islam has five times prayer in a day
compared to Hindus which are Subuh, Zuhur, Assar, Maghrib and Isya.
Hindus usually will go to the temple when they have an offer or to ask something to their
god. If Hindus visit a temple, they will bring along or offer a meals, flower or money to their god
as their sacrifice. These rules are different from Islam because in Islam there is no rule that a
person who go to the mosque must bring something to give to their god. They just go inside the
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mosque and perform their prayer. But, in Islam there is a word called nazar. Nazar means to ask
something from god and promise to pay back with something else if god has fulfilled the
request. For example, a person prays to god for his examination result and promise to shave his
hair bald if god hears his prayer. So, if that person finally got a result with flying color, he must
fulfill his promise to get bald. Besides that, Hindus also use kemenyan when they pray.
Compared to Muslim, Hindus kemenyan is different because they have many types of
kemenyan and many different smells such as lavender and flower smells. The colors of the
kemenyan also are different and have many selections.
Moreover, these both cultures have a special religious celebration that being celebrate
according to their religion practices. For Indian cultures, as most of them are the Hinduism, they
will be celebrating Diwali each year. It is originated as a harvest festival that marked the last
harvest of the year before winter. India was an agricultural society where people would seek the
divine blessing of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth, as they closed their accounting books and
prayed for success at the outset of a new financial year. Today, this practice extends to
businesses all over the Indian subcontinent, which mark the day after Diwali as the first day of
the new financial year. Meanwhile, the Malay culture in which most of them are Muslim, they will
be celebrating the Hari Raya Aidilfitri. It is being celebrated after a month that they have to fast.
It is a symbol of victory for the Muslim people as they have completed a 30 days of fasting. Both
festivals will aspect quite the same outcome in which to make the celebration to fix the situation.
As both of them is a holly celebration that most of the people hoping for a good and bright future
as well as to achieve the divine by their God.

APPENDIXES

Many types of Hindus God.

An interview session with one of the workers at Little India, Klang.

In a saree shop

In a jewelry shop

Dilwali Festival

Hari Raya Aidilfitri Festival

Dowry for Indians culture

Dowry in Malays culture

Engagement in Indians culture

Engagement ceremony in Malays culture

REFERENCES

Anonymous. (n.d). Funeral Definition. Retrieved from:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/funeral
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Anonymous. (n.d). Puja Definition. Retrieved from:

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/puja
Anonymous. (n.d). Hindu Funeral Traditions. Retrieved from:
https://www.everplans.com/articles/hindu-funeral-traditions
Anonymous. (2015). Hindu Rituals & Practices. Retrieved from:
http://www.religionfacts.com/hinduism/practices
Jayaram, V. (2015). Hinduism Concept, Beliefs and Practices. Retrieved a
from:
http://www.hinduwebsite.com/hinduism.asp
CulturalIndia.net. (2014). CulturalIndia.net. Retrieved May 17, 2016, from
http://www.culturalindia.net/weddings/wedding-rituals/engagement-ceremony.html

Ho, J. K. (2014, November 7). National Library Board. Retrieved

May 17, 2016, from eresources.nlb.gov.sg:
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_73_2005-01-25.html

CulturalIndia.net. (2014). CulturalIndia.net. Retrieved May 17, 2016,

from

http://www.culturalindia.net/weddings/wedding-rituals/engagement-

ceremony.html
Ho, J. K. (2014, November 7). National Library Board. Retrieved May 17,
2016, from eresources.nlb.gov.sg:
http://eresources.nlb.gov.sg/infopedia/articles/SIP_73_2005-01-25.html
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