Wedding Kenduri

This is a post in response to a fellow blogger's (hawa2u.blogspot.com) entry on weddings. It started off as a comment to that post but when it got longer and longer, I moved most of it here.

I still prefer the kenduri wedding with penanggah (helpers) and rewang (all kenduri-related work) because, to me, it is a Malay identity that truly reflects the spirit of gotong-royong (working together). 

Although I live in the Klang Valley where the small space in housing areas and high-rise living hardly permits for a stretch of khemah (tent), I am thankful that  for most of the days in a year, we live in the kampung part of Kajang where we open up our gates and clear our porches for the penanggahs during wedding kenduris.  To add, my in-laws are first generation Felda settlers in Labis, a community that avoids having two weddings in one day to be able to share the work and even expenses of any kenduris at the settlement.  Such is the spirit of gotong-royong there.


Today, I am in our house in Nilai.  As I am typing this, traditional Malay music from a neighbour's house fill up the air.  I can't bring my car into the porch because blue-and-white khemahs stretch as far as 6 doors including ours.  My immediate neighbour's porch is the station for giving out extra boiled eggs. Another, for the DJ and his bulky audio equipment. Another, for the group mixing hot and cold drinks. I offered my own porch for use but it was too late because they already have enough porches to be used.  Yes, today they are holding their menyambut menantu (welcoming new daughter-in-law and her family) kenduri and our Korean neighbour is having a gala time taking pictures and video of the whole affair.   


So, wherever we stay, I am glad that I can still catch my 'budak bandar' (city kids) children part of the noisy, bantering, dish-washing, fun-poking, dulang (tray)-carrying makciks (older women) and pakciks (older men) at kenduris. It is still very much part of their life which I hope they will not lose.