Plate 8.—Betrothal Gifts.
Bird-shaped receptacles, formerly used for containing rice for presentation purposes during betrothal, the bird at the bottom representing a peacock (mĕrak). Round its neck are hung two smaller receptacles also for rice.
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Bearing these presents with them, the youth’s representatives proceed to the house of the girl’s parents, where they are invited to enter and partake of the betel-leaf provided for them. A meal is then served, Malay cakes (kueh-kueh) brought forward, and the company again partake of betel.
The two parties now sit down in a “family circle,” and one of the youth’s representatives pushes forward (di-sorongkan) the betel which they had brought with them, and offers it to the people of the house, saying, “This is a pledge of your daughter’s betrothal.” The girl’s father replies, “Be it so, I accept it,” or words to that effect, and inquires how long the engagement is to last, the answer being “six months” or “a year” as the case may be. Both parties then appeal to the witnesses to “hear what is said,” and the youth’s relatives return to their homes.
The marriage portion being fixed (in Selangor) by an almost universal custom at two bharas of dollars ($44), the amount is not usually mentioned at the betrothal, it being understood that the usual amount is intended. But if the girl’s parents should afterwards prove reluctant to proceed with the match, they forfeit twice the amount of the pledge-money which they have received; whereas if the youth refuses to proceed he merely forfeits the pledge-money ($11) already paid to the girl’s parents. Some families pay a marriage portion of $30 only, and others (such as the family of ’Toh Kaya Kĕchil of Klang) pay as much as $50, but exceptions are rare, $44 being now generally recognised as the customary wedding portion.
However, the girl’s family does not really receive anything like the full value of the $44, because if the $44 is paid in full the proposer has a right to demand a complete outfit (pĕrsalinan) of silk attire, to the value of about $20, so that the amount which actually changes hands is seldom more than about $24.
Plate 9.—Betrothal Gifts.
The two square cloths resembling “D’oyleys” represent two different patterns of the gĕdĕbong, a cloth (in three thicknesses and sizes) used for wrapping up the presentation betel-leaf during the period of betrothal.