Bersanding
The
pelamin, the focal point in a Malay wedding, where the bride and groom will sit together throughout the celebration.
The actual wedding day is the
bersanding (enthronement). This literally means the "sitting together of the bride and bridegroom on the bridal couch". Known as the
pelamin, this couch is the centrepiece of the whole ceremony, and two
pelamin are required - one in the bride's house and the other in the bridegroom's. As the
bersanding ceremony customarily takes place in the afternoon, the bridegroom entertains guests at his own house in the morning. The
bersanding ceremony begins with the groom's procession with friends, relatives, musicians and people waving
bunga manggar
(palm blossom) to meet the bride. Often various good-humoured attempts
are made to waylay or stop the groom from getting to the bride. The main
part of the
bersanding involves the seating of the bridal couple
on a dais and sprinkling them with yellow rice and scented water by
family members, relatives and guests as a sign of blessing. Each guest
will receive a
bunga telur (egg flower), a decorated egg with a
fabric flower, as a sign of fertility. The couple are considered royalty
for the day, and so various royal customs are performed for them,
including musicians playing court music and 'bodyguards' performing a
display of
silat (traditional Malay martial arts).
After the
bersanding ceremony, the wedded couple and their guests attend a celebratory feast called the
makan beradab
(formal meal). This involves the bride and groom feeding each other
sweetened rice. The celebrations are concluded by posing for family
photographs.
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