Yeah‼️ As promised, now sharing Part 2️⃣ of the Rentak Selangor aka Beats of Selangor 2018 😃😁
SiennyLovesDrawing 👩🏻 has travelled with the writers team 👫👭👬 to Carey Island 🌴 🏖🏝 to meet the Mah Meri 👹👺people to learn more about their richness history & cultures 😲🤗
At present, Mah Meri’s 👹👺population is more than 4️⃣K people 👬👭👫
So, what’s their musics 🎼🎵🎶 & dances 💃🏻🕴🏻❓⁉️
Mayin Jo-oh Music & Dance
This is a mask 👹👺traditional dance 💃🏻 which performed to invite ancestral spirits aka muyang to join the festivals by Mah Meri people 👹👺
Mah Meri 👺👹 people is 1️⃣ of the 1️⃣8️⃣ tribes of indigenous people aka Orang Asli & one said only resides at Carey Island 🌴 🏖🏝 of Malaysia 🇲🇾
The male 👬 Mah Meri 👹👺 dancers will wear the grotesque wooden masks 🎭 carved, dance clothes made with tree 🌳 skin & palm/ mengkuang leaves 🌿🌿 Generally, the males’ 👬 are with more exaggerated dance moves to express the spirit of the mask 🎭 & in clockwise 🔃 direction around the female 👭 dancers
While the female 👭 dancers will wear the skirts made of palm/ mengkuang leaves 🌿🌿 & plaited mengkuang head gear. They will dance anti-clockwise 🔄 around an earthen mound named as “a busot” 😀
This dance 💃🏻 is performed with gestures to relate the annual Ari Muyang ritual ceremony, everyday events e.g. fishing 🎣 , celebrations 🎊🎉 etc. & with the music 🎶🎵 🎼 played from the music instruments below,
- bamboo🎋🎍stampers named “tuntog”
- a viola 🎻named “jule”
- the double-headed drum 🥁 named “tambo”
- a brass gong named “a-tawa”
Do enjoy the short clips 📹🎥 captured while the travel team members 👭👬👫 mostly joined in to enjoy this traditional dance 💃🏻 with Mah Meri 👹👺 dancers 👏🏻🙌🏻
Spirit Wood Carving
The Mah Meri 👹👺 people also well known 👍🏻 with their spiritual wood carving, apart from its richness of music, songs 🎤🎼 & dances
They are mostly with the remarkable wood carving skills, in particular wood sculptures & masks 🎭 All are depict their Ari Muyang, mythical creatures, animal spirits e.g. birds 🐦🦅 , dragon 🐉 etc. from the Mah Meri’s 👹👺surroundings of swamp, sea 🌊 & forest 🌳🌳
According to 1️⃣ of the Mah Meri 👹👺 wood carver (Oppsss…She forgot to ask ❓about his name), he shared that sometimes he carves the sculptures as per his dreams 💭 The forms & figures actually appeared a few times in the dreams 💭 which most of the Mah Meri 👹👺wood carvers would believe the messages 📜 from the other world 🌍 to them for spiritual wood carvings 😊
So, upon waking up, he would then set to carve the figures that he encountered in his dreams 💭 He added that some sculptures are carved for the purpose of healing too
Traditionally, the materials for wood carving including nyireh stone, rare red mangrove hardwood etc. 😃
Palm/ mengkuang leaves 🌿 weaving/ origami
Guess what❓⁉️
For Mah Meri 👹👺 females 👭 to get married👰🏻👰🏻, they must good 👍🏻 at weaving. Ha…Ha…An interesting fact learnt😆
Accordingly, most of the Mah Meri 👹👺 females 👭 are well known 👍🏻 with their impressive weaving skills. It was once said & believed that Mah Meri 👹👺leaf 🌿🍃 origami to be the oldest in the world 🗺 🌍 Wow‼️
SiennyLovesDrawing 👩🏻 loves 💗 her head gear received from Mah Meri 👹👺 people as welcoming gift 💝 which was folded with the palm leaves 🌿🌿 upon her entering to the village 🏘🏡
Among the weaving designs are spirit flowers🌼🌻💐, birds 🐦🦅 etc., objects of adornments e.g. head gears, belts etc. to be worn for celebration 🎉 🎊 , jewelleries, purses👛👝, baskets etc.
The young fronds of the palm leaves are intricately to be folded to make offerings & ornaments for the ritual 🙏🏻 ceremonies of the Mah Meri 👺👹 people 👫👭👬
Ari Muyang
On an annual basis, Mah Meri 👹👺people 👭👬👫 will gather together at the Spirit House 🏠 in their village named Rumah Muyang to celebrate its Spirit & Ancestor Festival 🎉🎊 named Ari Muyang Festival around mid March 😉🤩
Ari Muyang Festival 🎊🎉 is celebrating for 3️⃣ days with aims to seek protection, to appease the spirit guardians & to offer prayers 🙏🏻 to honour their ancestors☺️
She was told that during the festival 🎉🎊ceremony, the spirit mediums or known as “dukun” will enter into a state of trance ~ an inhabited by a muyang’s spirit. The “dukun” will bless the Mah Meri 👹👺 people 👭👬👫 by smearing their foreheads & forearms with rice 🍚 powder mixed with flowers 💐 🌼🌻 & leaves 🌿🍃🌱
Then, Mayin Jo’oh dance 💃🏻 will be performed to inviting the muyang to join in this festive celebration 🎉🎊
SiennyLovesDrawing 👩🏻 wishes to celebrate this mentioned Ari Muyang Festival 🎉🎊 with the Mah Meri 👹👺 people 👬👭👫 in the near future then 😄
A great 👍🏻😃 cultural learning day at Carey Island 🚤⛵️🏝🌊 of Selangor, Malaysia 🇲🇾 with media 👩🏻💻📝 team 👭👬👫 of Rentak Selangor 2018
Website: http://mmcv.org.my/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/www.mmcv.org.my/
Ohh ya…Let’s enjoy her vblog & short clip 📹🎥 captured about an awesome 😎👏🏻 day visit to Homestay Sg Haji Dorani 🏘🏘
She has enjoyed a great experience by meeting the local people 👬👭👫 as well as learning better about the traditional music 🎶🎵 instruments & enjoyed the awesome performance by Kompang Anak Selangor aka KOMPAS
Guess what❓⁉️
She has learnt much more about kuda kepang 🐎🐴 (kuda lumping for Indonesia 🇮🇩 ) , Barongan, Gamelan, Shadow Play aka Wayang Kulit as well as enjoyed the hands on (including young kids 👶🏻👦🏻) music instruments with the guidance from the friendly musicians 😃😁
Do invite 📩📧💌 SiennyLovesDrawing 👩🏻 again, just can’t wait to be in for Rentak Selangor 2019 ya
#RentakSelangor #DiscoverSelangor #BeatsOfSelangor #SmartSelangor #NBOS #MyNBOS#VM2020 #SayangMalaysia #GayaTravel #gayaXevents #MyDestination #CutiCutiMalaysia#MalaysiaTrulyAsia #Selangor #Malaysia #travel #travelling #blog #blogging#bloggers #blogger #influencer #influencers #CareyIsland #MahMeri #orangasli
siennylovesdrawing 
Such an interesting read! Love the pictures x
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Thanks so much for your compliments to my blogging & photos captured ☺️😊 Feel free to drop by my blogging more often ya 😃😁
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magnificent submit, very informative. You must proceed your writing. I’m confident, you have a great readers’ base already!
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Thanks so much for your compliments, am just sharing my own experiences to my readers here, am happy that you enjoyed my blogging passion 😀
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wow so much culture! I especially liked the wood carving! thanks for sharing
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Most most welcome, so happy to know that you love my blogging here about Mah Meri people 😀 My pleasure to share my travel experiences ya : ) Sharing is caring as always 😀
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A beautiful and interesting culture indeed. I haven’t heard about this before, and I love how colorful this festivity is. The spiritual wood carving is something I should really have to check If I get here. I truly love the art and the history behind it, it must be something fulfilling. Those mask while dancing is truly captivating I have not seen something like that before. Thank you so much for sharing this with us.
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Yeah! It was really an amazing time at this Island to learn more about Mah Meri cultures 😃😁 You have to visit there, it’s amazing 😉😃
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Looks like you had so much fun! I would love to see the Mah Meri culture in person. The place looks so tranquil and serene too. Do the Mah Meri speak English? I’d love to strike up a conversation with them! Thanks for the neat article!
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Yes, yes, I had a great time during my visit to Mah Meri village. Most of the Mah Meri people are speaking good English, reason being many foreign tourists visiting them at Carey Island to learn more of their unique art & cultures. Also many tourists will join their Ari Muyang annual celebration too : )
Thanks so much for your compliments to my blogging ya 😀
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Wow. Super interesting. So many corners of this world about that we should all know about. Thanks for sharing. MaryJo
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Most welcome MaryJo, happy that you enjoy my blogging about Mah Meri cultures here : ) Absolutely agree with you that many more cultures around the world for us to explore, am hoping more opportunities to arrive 😀
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Your blog post reminds me of the the different dances of the indigenous tribes in our country. It is almost similar to that. I haven’t watched any indigenous tribe dance in real life but I have seen a lot in movies. Glad that you enjoyed your time in there.
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Yeah! I really enjoyed my trip to learn much more about Mah Meri cultures in real life : ) Definitely money can’t buy travel experiences 😀
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