Tuesday, 22 July 2014

BATU SEREMBAN

Selambut or also known as Batu Seremban or Serembat is a traditional game played in Malaysia. Selambut is a reference to the north and east coast of Peninsular, while on the west coast of Peninsular is called Seremban game. It is usually played by girls individually or in groups of two to five people.
 
 

Selambut games only need a few pieces of fruit. Rubber seeds, pebbles or small stones, chunks of other objects commonly used round, often as much as five seeds. In addition, the cloth bag sewn and filled with saga seeds, sand, etc. are also used.
The game is often played at leisure, on the porch of the house, in the house, in the park or anywhere else that there is a clean, flat surface. The players sit on the floor, and play in turns.


HOW TO PLAY

In Batu Seremban game, There are several levels or different ways of celebration. The game will start with a simple first stage, in which a piece of fruit called a used, up to a more difficult level or top level of seven named.
 
Fruit One:
  • All fruits should be dispersed, put in all the fruit is not touching one another.
  • A fruit will be the mother, and the mother had to be tossed into the air.
  • At the same time, a fruit on the floor should be collected.
  • Such behavior will continue until all the fruit on the floor already collected,
Fruit Two:
  • Two ways of play is the same as the fruit one.
  • Only two pieces of fruit should be harvested in the same time.
  • This means that the mother will tossed two times.
Fruit Three:
  • Fruit three little difference.
  • On the first toss, just one seeds will be collected.
  • Toss the two, three seeds will be collected simultaneously.
Fruit Four:
  • Fruit mother would tossed into the air.
  • At the same time, the player must collect all four pieces of fruit that are on the floor together.
Fruits Five:
  • Fruit of the five will be played as four.
  • Players must toss of mother-to-air and collect the four pieces of fruit on the floor simultaneously.
  • After that, of the mother should be tossed into the air and at the same time, four pieces of fruit that is in the player's hand must be placed on the floor so that only the mother of the only ones who will be welcomed.
Fruit Six:
  • In the sixth stage, the players are slightly different opinion.
  • At this stage, the player will get two pieces of fruit that will be of the mother.
  • When a piece of it is tossed into the air, another piece of the mother should be exchanged with other fruits found on the floor to finish.
Fruit Seven:
  • Fruit is a sequence of seven of six.
  • Two pieces of fruit that is in the hand should be tossed simultaneously.
  • After that, only one of which will be collected seeds.
  • Fruit mother should be celebrated with both hands.
  • One in the left hand, and another on his right hand.
  • In the end, the mother of the latter will also be celebrated tossed.

Sunday, 25 May 2014

Wau



Wau or Kite in Malay is a uniquely designed Malaysian kite that has flown since times past. It is called 'Wau' because the shape of its wing is similar to an Arabic letter (pronounced "wow"). It is a marvelous tradition inherent to the culture of the people, especially in the Eastern States of the Malayan Peninsula. Today, the kite is still widely found in the traditionally rich states of Kelantan and Terengganu, especially during harvest time.
One legend says that farmers used kites as a kind of flying scarecrows in the fields. The sound made by the kites lulled their children to sleep, so they could work with little interruption. Another popular belief is that coastal inhabitants once employed fishing kites made from palm leaves and fitted with a line and hook to catch fish.

 How to play: 
The wau can be used for kite-fighting where the opponents try to bring down their rivals’ kites by cutting the strings. The string of the wau is coated with glass powder to provide the “cutting edge”. Although skills are important in maneuvering the kite or wau, the wind condition also influences the playing of the game.   


Wau making

In making a wau, bamboo is used for the frame.  The bamboo is split and soaked in mud for two weeks. This prevents the bamboo from being attacked by weevils as well as makes it more flexible.  The bamboo splits are made into a complex but lightweight frame, tested with one layer of paper and making alterations accordingly to make sure the kite is structurally sound. Next, the patterns are meticulously cut from rice-paper and glued on piece by piece to form intricate motifs. 
Apart from the performance and appearance of the Malay kite, the sound is considered important as well. The sound created or dengung as it is called, depends on the force of the wind. The higher the kite flies and the faster the wind, the higher the pitch, making the sound ... w-a-u-u-u,   w-a-u-u-u. There are various types of wau such as wau kuching (cat kite), wau merak (peacock kite), and wau bulan (moon kite). Each wau also comes with a different design and size.



Monday, 12 May 2014

Congkak


Congkak is a mancala game with Malay origin which is commonly played in Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Southern Thailand and also some part of Sumatra and Borneo. Its name is believed to be derived from the word 'congak', which means "mental calculation" in old Malay. The word congkak or congklak also means cowrie shells, which were used in the game. It is the oldest mancala game found in an abandoned castle of Roman Egypt back in the 4th Century AD, and was introduced to Southeast Asia by the Indian or Arabian traders in the 15th century. Back then, congkak was exclusively for royals only. However, this game quickly became famous among the commoners as well, not only among the Malays, but also the Indian Peranakans. The current Malaysian Ringgit 10 sen coin has a Congkak board on the reverse in recognition of the long history of congkak in Malaysia.

The game is easy to play, with only a few equipments needed.

Objective of the game : To get rid of all the seeds (marbles) by removing them across the enemy's pits while placing  each of your seed or marbles into your own house or pit. The player with the most seeds in his or her house or the first to empty his row of holes is declared as the winner.

Equipments :
1. Congkak board

Congkak boards are often made of teak or mahogany wood are often elaborately carved
into various shapes such as naga or birds.
The Congkak board has fourteen holes in two sets of seven (some have ten holes in two sets of five, some have eighteen holes in two sets of nine), plus an additional bigger store-hole for
 each player.

 2. Marbles (seeds)
 A total of 98 pieces are used in the two sets of seven board version.
In Southeast Asia, cowrie shells and tamarind seeds are the most common.
Seven seeds are placed in each hole except for the players' store.







How to Play :



1. The congkak board consists of two rows of 7 holes called the 'houses' and 2 bigger holes called the 'storehouse'.  
2. Each house is filled with 7 seeds while the storehouses are left empty before the game starts.  
3. Both players begin simultaneously by scooping up all the shells in any house on their side. Each drops a seed into the next 'house' and continue clockwise depositing one seed into every house thereafter. A player drops a shell into his storehouse each time he passes it but does not deposit any into his opponent's 'storehouse'.
4. How the game continues, depends on where the last shell of each scoop is deposited.

  • IF THE SHELL DROPS INTO THE PLAYER'S OWN 'STOREHOUSE': The player scoops up the shells from any of his 'houses' and distributes them in the cups ('houses') round the board but not in his opponents's 'storehouse'.
  • IF THE SHELL DROPS INTO A 'HOUSE' (on either side of the board) CONTAINING SHELLS: The player scoops up all the shells in that 'house' and continues distributing them as described above.
  • IF THE SHELL DROPS INTO THE PLAYER'S 'HOUSE' WHICH IS WITHOUT SHELLS: The player is entitled to collect the shells in his opponent's 'house' directly opposite his own. These shells collected from his opponent's house together with his last shell are deposited in his own 'storehouse'. If the opponent's 'house' opposite his own is empty, he deposits only his last shell in his own 'storehouse'. He forfeits his turn and stops playing. It is the opponent's turn now to distribute the shells.
  • IF THE SHELL DROPS INTO AN EMPTY 'HOUSE' BELONGING TO THE OPPONENT: The player forfeits his turn and stops playing. He also forfeits his shell and leaves it in the opponent's 'house'. It is the opponent's turn now to distribute the shells.
5. The first round ends when a player has no more shells on his side.


6. Play resumes in the second round with players redistributing shells from their own 'storehouse' to their own 'houses'. Beginning from left to right, seven shells are placed in each 'house'. If a player does not have sufficient shells to fill his own 'houses', the remaining cups are left empty and are considered 'burnt'. The leftover shells are deposited into his own 'storehouse.' The opponent deposits excess shells he has won into his own 'storehouse'.

7. The loser gets to start the second round. Play is continued as before but players will bypass 'burnt houses' for instance no shells are to be dropped into these houses. If a shell is accidentally dropped into a 'burnt house', it is confiscated and stored in the opponent's 'storehouse'.


8. Play continues until one player loses all his 'houses' or concedes defeat.

Intro

Hi everyone! We're group Roti Canai!

Let me introduce our group members to you guys.
Chew Li Yen (Leader)
Tan Wan Teng
Heng Rui Ying
Yap Jia Min
Lee Ean Kee
Lee Wan Mung
Ee Hui Yin
Chia Kah Wai

Our topic is traditional games in Pennisular Malaysia.

Stay tune for more updates! See you guys soooon :)