Malays
POPULAR CULTURE
The various groups
of Malay and Indonesian migrants who came to Singapore from the Malay-Indonesian
Archipelago brought with them their own cultural practices and traditions.
These as well as the largely urban nature of life in Singapore contributed
to the development of Singapore Malay culture.
TRADITIONAL GAMES
AND SPORTS
Traditional Malay
games and sports showed the gotong-royong (mutual help) spirit of the community.
Some, like the congkak, tested intelligence and mental abilities.
Gasing
Gasing (top)
was a popular Malay game among children and adults. It was played during
festivals or for leisure. Gasing competitions were often held in kampongs
and in most cases involved the whole village community.
Congkak
More popular among Malay children and women, congkak is an indoor game
played by two players by taking turns to fill in the
holes on the congkak board (papan congkak) with congkak seeds (biji congkak,
made usually from saga or rubber seeds or small marbles). Each player is
entitled to eight holes with the left-most one being his "home". The player
with the most number of seeds in his "home" wins the game.
Sepak raga
Sepak raga is
a favourite ball game with the Malays. It is played by several players
standing in a circle, kicking the bola raga (raga ball made of woven rattan)
in the air to one another, trying to prevent it from touching the ground.
The end of a round of play comes about when the ball drops and touches
the ground. This is one game which instils a sense of team spirit among
players. The modern and competitive form of sepak raga is called sepak
takraw.
Jong/Kolek
Among the coastal
Malay kampongs such as those in the Siglap, Bedok and Changi areas, the
kolek or jong was a popular sea sport. Kolek or jong are model Malay sailboats.
This regular sailing competition, usually a day-long affair, would see
the gathering of villagers within the kampong as well as those from around
the area. Each kampong would send about four kolek or jong to the race.
Before the race , the men would be busy building tents and preparing the
race area while the women prepared food for the competitors and spectators.
After the race, at night, the kampong folk treated themselves to a ronggeng
dance.
RELIGIOUS LIFE
