Baba Nyonya 2
Malay EchoesRaymond Kwok Examines
The Baba's Past Links
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Baba Nyonya 2
Malay EchoesRaymond Kwok Examines The Baba's Past Links |
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Echoes From The Past Among the various Chinese ethnic groups living in Penang today, perhaps it is the smallest of these groups, namely the Babas and Nyonyas (of early Hokkien descent) who appear to be quite 'different' from the others. Considered 'alien' ("Oh, so they were from Malacca!" was the usual response when one mentioned 'Baba-Nyonya'). Often erroneously proclaimed or viewed as 'descendants of early Chinese male immigrants and local Malay women' (thus of mixed blood or mixed parentage), they nevertheless were worthy of special mention in Penang's history. The older generation of Penang's Babas and Nyonyas were a colourful, refined, genteel, elite, urban community with a rich, unique, cultural identity of their own. Significant aspects which set them apart from the various Chinese communities still living in Penang today include certain Malay elements like language, modified style of Malay dressing, adaptive use of local Malay cooking ingredients, belief in Malay superstitions and taboos, adopting Malay nicknames and enjoying Malay songs, drama and even emulating them in certain humorous ways like in exclamations: amboi!, alamak!, chelaka! and latah (going into hysterics). A Mixture Unlike the other Chinese ethnic groups who spoke their Mother tongue and Mandarin, the Penang Babas and Nyonyas (of Hokkien descent) mainly spoke in Hokkien with a mixture of Malay words and English. In fact, it was common for them to speak part of a sentence in Hokkien punctuated or substituted with Malay words and yet they could understand one another with ease. It might sound strange, even incomprehensible to the younger generation of Penangites when two adults conversed in Baba Malay. Common Malay words often repeated would include tumpang, kasihan, sembang, tuala, tapi, suka, batuk, tolong, jamban, piring, sampah, geram etc. |
| K'ee Geram Extracts from a simple conversation might include simple sentences like the following: 1. Ee suka lai sembang. (He likes to come here and gossip). 2. Keliap-keliap, ee naik angin. (Slightly provoked, he gets angry) 3. Gua tan ee sampai gua k'ee geram. (I waited for him till I got angry). 4. Oo-wa! kinajeet, ee pasang kuat. (Wow! Today he dresses stylishly!) This corrupted form of spoken Hokkien with liberal borrowings from Malay words can even have more than one meaning. For example chabut can mean 'run away' or 'pull out' (a tooth). Chabai means chillies but chabai ee means 'to scold another severely'. Buta means 'blind' but it can also mean 'wrongful' (arrest, scolding). Very often mispronunciations occurred because the Babas and Nyonyas picked up Malay words by ear. Many could not even read or write then ; they had to rely on memory power alone. They merely picked up words through speaking with their Malay counterparts and perhaps, the Indian kuih sellers. Married and expectant Nyonyas who had employed Malay or Javanese orang jaga (confinement period women) and bidan (mid-wives) would have picked up a smattering of communicative words to indicate their wants and wishes. Words like bunting (pregnant), gugur (miscarriage), datang kotor (menstruating), bulanberanak (given birth), pantang (abstinence or taboo), tetek (breasts), sayang (love), susu (milk), lampin (baby diapers) etc crept into the Nyonya's extended Malay vocabulary. And with subsequent usage and knowledge of the Malay language, the Penang Nyonya's confidence grew.  Over the years, the Babas and Nyonyas gradually learnt, acquired and incorporated more than 300 Malay words into their Hokkien dialect Thanks to the diligent efforts of Baba Chan Kim Boon, alias 'Batu Gantong,' who translated classical Chinese literature like 'Water Margin', 'Kou Chay Thian' (The Monkey), 'Hwan Tong', 'Song Kang' and 'Sam Kok' (The Three Kingdoms) , his contemporaries and juniors who were interested could read such books. With the aid of a dictionary called 'Par-mu-lai-an'/'Ka-trangan' (printed in Singapore on 25th January 1901) they could check out unfamiliar or difficult words. The older generation Babas also enjoyed certain poetic forms from the Malays (syair, pantoon, stories like 'Burung Nuri' and 'Abu Nawas' and of course singing 'Dondang Sayang' tunes from a song book called 'Penghiboran Hati' which even provided the musical notes. |
Baju
Panjang Clothes andaccessories go hand in hand; they complement each other to a great extent. The Penang Nyonya style of dressing (being the baju panjang, baju kebaya sulam and baju bandung and batik or bright floral prints sarong from Pekalongan. The clothes were made from a variety of imported material like voile, organdie, white English lace or silk, and with partial adoption and improvement of style (somewhat similar to those of local Malay women) they became the standard wear for Penang Nyonyas. Malay terms for such imported cloth material ( in general) like batik, renda, batik lesern, sarong, kain songket etc.) were readily borrowed and used by the Nyonyas when referring to such items. Similarly jewellery items or assessories like cucuk sanggol, anting-anting, subang, rantay, cincin, gelang tangan, gelang kaki etc., were familiar terms used to identify such items as the Nyonyas used some of such jewellery items daily. Anak Dara and Mak Andam Words like anak dara (virgin), kahwin (marry), Mak Andam (Mistress Of Ceremony), pengapit (page-girl/page-boy), pengantin (newly-wed bride or groom), menantu (daughter-in-law), seronee ( a musical instrument) were terms all too commonly used in a typical Baba-Nyonya wedding which incorporated both traditional Chinese and Malay customs. Here daun sireh or betel-leaves (introduced by the local Malays) played a very significant role. In the past, some very conservative Nyonya matriarch would insist on the introduction of the sireh dara as proof of the bride's virtuousness Muar Guay At the full lunar month muar-guay ceremony, that is, thirty days after the birth of the child Nyonyas would hold a ceremony whereby nasi kunyit (steamed glutinous tumeric rice), chicken curry and red bean cakes in the shape of  tortoises ( ang-koo) together with either ang-t'oe or ang-ee and two red hard-boiled chicken eggs would be offered to the ancestors and the rest distributed to relatives and close friends. This tradition, no doubt influenced to a certain extent by the local Malays in the use of nasi kunyit and curry ayam is still being practised by the Hokkiens today. The muar-guay ceremony also marks the end of the pantang (taboo or abstinence period for the baby's mother) as was also practised by the Malay women after child delivery. The Malays refered to nasi kunyit as pulot kuning or nasi kuning and they used it lavishly at thanksgiving ceremonies (kenduris ). Muar guay cakes. (from top, clockwise: Nasi kunyit , two hard boiled eggs, two tortoises ang koo , two peaches ang t'oe (the last signifying that the baby is a girl) |
Nicknames for the Kids True Nyonya cuisine involved a lot of cutting, chopping, skinning, pounding and grinding of raw, local ingredients using the agak-agak (estimation) method of how much of each ingredient to put in or add in the preparation of each dish. Basically it involved the liberal use of local Malay home-grown garden produce like lengkuas, assam, bawang, cabai, serai, cukur, daun pandan and santan (for flavouring) - all of which were only too familiar with the Nyonyas. Ulam (fresh leafy shoots) and sambal belachan (toasted shrimp paste) with squeezed lime juice featured regularly at lunch or at dinner time. At other times, buahjering, buah petai or belimbing gave much added flavour to the other mouth-watering Nyonya dishes. Common cooking terms or cooking methods adopted from the Malays included panggang (smoke), goreng (fried), tumis (lightly fried) or rebus (boiled). Results from frying fish etc. could be garing or sedap . Fresh scaly fish could be persiang (scales removed) and pork-leg or ribs cincang (chopped to suitable sizes). While batu giling (for grinding) and lesong (for pounding) were two common implements used by the Malays to grind or pound raw ingredients like bawang (onions), chabai kering (dried chillies) etc., the Nyonyas also used them for the same purposes. |
Sireh and
Cigars The chewing of daun sireh or betel -leaf was an integral part of Malay culture. With typical Malay overtones as reflected in words like pinang, kacip, sireh, tempat sireh, kotak sireh often appeared in Nyonya conversation or during tete-a-tete. Malay words like cheerut (cigar) and gunting (cutter or scissors) were often used by the Babas and Nyonyas who were cigar lovers. Kuih talam, kuih kochi For tea time especially, Nyonyas who expected daily visitors would make simple Malay cakes to eat: kuih talam, kuih kochi, seri muka, kuih kodok, kuih lapis, kuih bengka, pulot enti etc.they would probably have learnt the art of making simple cakes from their Malay neighbours. Cupboards, side boards Locally-made furniture items like cupboards, side-boards, tables and chairs owned by the Babas and Nyonyas could be easily identified by their Malay names for the type of wood used: cengal, yati, merbau or meranti . Conclusion The Baba's and Nyonya's love and passion for the genteel Malay language and race was often reflected in some of the specially commissioned items still found in pristine condition in some old Penang Baba houses today. Bridal  shoes with Slamet Pakei lettering, enamel tiffin-carriers with gilt lettering wish the user, Slamet Pakei, Slamet Bukka, Slamet Untong & Slamet Makan . Printed on tobacco boxes are words with a wish Slamet Pakei for the smoker. Beautiful, dainty tea-cups specially commissioned from Germany bear the sweet and pleasant greetings : Slamet Pakei, Slamet Minoem and Umor Panjang . Baba-Malay books- Syer, Pantun, Hiboran Hati and translations from Chinese Classics to Baba-Malay by the late Chan Kim Boon alias 'Batu Gantong' are still available to those interested. Dondang Sayang, Keronchong and Bangsawan records are still in private collections of certain Baba families who now regard them as prized family heirlooms. # Tiffin carrier _________ Footnote: The Hokkiens also use nasi kunyit as one of the prayer items as an offering to Datuk-Kong or at keramats (shrines of holy Malay men) especially during the Deity's birthday. Tea cups |
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