We went to Pulau Carey today with some friends for the Mau Meri tribe’s major holiday, Ancestor Day. Pulau Carey, or Carey island, is not actually an island, and the event was held on the beach which is not actually a beach but a clearing in the middle of an orang asli village surrounded by oil palm plantations.
There was music, with percussion and a violin and some rather lovely singing, and a series of dances by women in barkcloth dresses and grass skirts and headpieces. It’s also one of the few tribes in Malaysia which has mask dancers – two of them appeared, with very different personalities, one capering around and the other planting his feet firmly and seriously.
The dancing was before the spirit hut in which was an altar and a shaman who blessed everyone who came by anointing them with rice powder scented with pandan and being anointed in turn. (The rice powder took a long time to wear off; one is not supposed to wash it off).
Afterwards I learned that it was considered one of the best and least touristy years for the celebration, but there were certainly more photographers present than anyone else. It seemed that at least one, perhaps many, photography clubs, had turned up.
We also wandered through the village shop and museum which displayed the Mah Meri carvings. These are justly renowned. Each lineage has its own icons which no one else is allowed to produce. They are monstrous and whimsical, very lively little pieces. For instance there is ‘the spirit of the leech’, and ‘the spirit of the boy who loved to eat prawns very much and turned into a prawn’. And my favourite, ‘the spirit who was afraid of the rain because his nose was upside down’.
Then the long drive back to KL where we had a dim sum lunch, a green tea ice cream dessert and a small amount of shopping. I was nearly falling over by now, so we then parted ways.
A very pleasant day.