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Mar 05, 2009 •    •

Traditional Games

Introduction

The Malay community has a myriad of cultures and traditions, molded from various backgrounds and lineage. These cultures and traditions are later assimilated into one unique collection of tradition and culture, which incorporated almost every aspects and traditions of individual heritage into what is known now as the Malay culture. This included the affinity and tendency to work together for economic activities, where the bond and friendship is further reinforced with communal gatherings, celebrations and entertainment performances. It is against this background that many traditional games are developed and contested.

Traditional games also help form part of the way of life for Malays ancestors. The most important basis that ensures a sense of togetherness of the traditional games in the past is through the similarity in which life was conducted amongst the Malay ancestors. Day to day, seasonal or even yearly activities does not vary that much between individuals. This enabled them to collectively work and play together, at the same time. The Malay community is used to being together and doing things collectively, perhaps due to the fact that this has always been the way of life since childhood. When harvest season ends and the monsoons arrive, farmers and fishermen would spend their time doing odd jobs. These jobs can easily be put off or delayed in favour of festivals and celebrations, and the best time for any celebration or festival is during the changing of the seasons.

When games are held in one village, villagers from the surrounding villages also visit to take part or to merely provide moral support. The festive atmosphere at the games is also a great platform to create and reinforce social interactions between villages taking part. Because of this fact, the traditional games are known as the ‘peoples’ games’. Nowadays, there are several traditional games that are no longer played and have been lost in time and only reside in the memories of older folks. But some games are still played and stood the test of time; those games include guli (marbles), congkak, wau (kites), selambut, sepak raga, gasing (spinning tops) and others.

Sepak Raga

Sepak raga was introduced 600 years ago. During the period of the Melaka Malay Sultanates, sepak raga was played not only by nobles, but also a favourite past time of the common folks. In the chronicles of Sejarah Melayu, there was a story of how Raja Muhammad, the prince of Sultan Mansor Shah Muhammad, had his headdress knocked off accidentally when hit by the rattan ball kicked by Tun Besar.

The rattan ball used was made from slivers of rattan woven into the shape of a ball the size of an unhusked coconut.

How To Play

In sepak raga, several players stand and create a circle. The game begins with a player gently throwing the ball to a team member. The receiving team member has to receive the ball and juggle it with his feet, before sending the ball to another player. Players that form the circle have to in turn receive the ball and juggle it with their feet and control the rattan ball from touching the ground. Should the ball touch the ground, the game for that particular round ends.

Juggling the ball

This game requires physical speed and dexterity, coupled with sharp feet-eye coordination to gauge the necessary movement to control the rattan ball. The objective of the players is to enhance his ability to receive and juggle the rattan ball with ease as long as possible. There is no time period allocated during competitions, and it is usually played as a team. The team that is able to make the most continuous count when juggling in a given time period wins.

Nowadays, sepak raga is no longer played, and the name has been changed to Sepak Takraw. Sepak takraw pits two teams against each other, separated only by a net, similar to badminton. A sepak takraw team is composed of three players. The ‘tekong’ or starting player starts and controls the rear area of the court. The apit kiri (left wingman) and apit kanan (right wingman) controls the front areas of the court and has the responsibility to spike the rattan ball into the opponents’ half of the court.

Gasing

Gasing is a popular game in Peninsular Malaysia. The game is not played by children, but gasing is also a favourite with the adults.

Type of Gasing

There several types of gasing found in Malaysia, and these includes gasing jantung (heart shaped tops), gasing piring (saucer shaped tops), gasing Cina (Chinese tops), gasing buku benang and gasing pinang.

Making A Gasing

The best type of wood to use is from the merbau family, such as merbau tanduk, merbau darah, merbau johol and merbau keradah, as it is easily carved but not easily chipped. Other suitable wood frequently chosen includes kayu leban tanduk, limau, bakau, koran, sepan, penaga, keranji. Commonly used wood that can easily be sourced can be derived from mangosteen trees, guava trees, sapodilla trees or tamarind trees.

The wood is usually carved using wood carving tools, according to the size and shape of the predetermined gasing. Before the carving works begin, an iron nail is knocked into the piece of wood to act as an axis. The nail will help to ensure a symmetric circle is produced when carving.

When the gasing is carved and ready, the finishing touches are applied, such as encrusting metal to the outer circumference of the top to add weight (sometimes up to 5 kilograms) and also to make the gasing not easily chipped. Varnish is also applied, and sometimes water buffalo horn is also added on the topside of the gasing, purely for cosmetic reasons. This is usually applicable for gasing leper (flat gasings) and gasing uri only.

How To Play

Gasing is played in 2 ways, firstly as gasing pangkah or gasing uri. Gasing pangkah is played by clashing the gasing against an opponent’s gasing with the intention to knock it off balance. Gasing uri is played by measuring the length of time a gasing can remain spinning.

Gasing pinang is played by children. The unripe pinang fruit is peeled and unhusked, and the top and bottom side sheared off. It is then skewered with a bamboo skewer through its axis and this becomes the gasing’s handle. This gasing can also be played as gasing pangkah or gasing uri.

To wind the gasing up, a piece of rope 1.75 centimetres thick and 3 to 5 meters long is wound at the apex all the way till the whole of the gasing is covered. The gasing is then thrown to the ground whilst the rope is pulled at the same time.

Gasing Competition

Gasing uri competitions differ from gasing pangkah. Gasing uri is individualistic by nature and gasing pangkah is played as a team sport.

Konda Kondi

Konda kondi is also known as Perik Mata, and it requires a player to be sharp minded and physically strong, because the game requires the player to preplan a safe direction to flip a piece of wood, and chase the flipped wood to strike out the opponent. This game requires a wide playing field.

The required equipment needed is made of two pieces of stick measuring 15cm and 30cm in length. The sticks are cylindrical and measure 2cm in radius. The shorter stick is called ‘anak’ and the longer stick is called ‘ibu’. A hole 15cm deep is made in the ground to place the longer stick.

To begin the team selection and to determine which team begins first, each team captain adopts the ‘rock-paper-scissors’ duel, and winner begins.

First Round

The first player begins the game by placing the shorter stick across the hole. The longer stick is used to flip the shorter stick into the air, upon which the longer stick will be placed across the hole to replace the flipped shorter stick. Whilst the shorter stick is flipped into the air, the opposing team will attempt to grab the shorter stick before the stick touches the ground (similar to a home run concept in baseball). If the opposing team succeeds, the entire starting team is considered struck out, and the opposing team gets its turn. However if the opposing team fails to catch the flipped stick before it touches the ground, the opposing team member must quickly retrieve the stick and throw the stick with the aim to get the stick into the hole or to touch the longer stick that is now across the hole.

If the thrown stick manages to get into the hole or touch the longer stick, the starting player who originally flipped the stick is consider struck out. But if the thrown stick did not manage to get into the hole or touch the longer stick, the starting player gets points by measuring the distance between the thrown stick’s landed position and the hole, using the longer stick as a measure. For every length of the longer stick, the starting player gets 1 point.

Second Round

From the restart, the starting player will retrieve his shorter stick and gently lobs it in the air, with the aim to hit the shorter stick as far away as possible with the longer stick. He is given three chances, if his first two attempts fall short.

Again, the opposing team will attempt to catch the stick and repeat the earlier process. If unsuccessful, the starting player will again accumulate points, measured as before. The points received in this round are added to previous round.

Third Round

Next, the players will move on to what is called ‘patuk ular’. The player will place the shorter stick against the sides of the hole, and then hit the top portion of the shorter stick with the longer stick so that it flips. If done correctly, the shorter stick will flip in mid air, and the player will attempt to hit the shorter stick as far away as possible with the longer stick. The distance will determine additional points to be scored, measured using the same methodology as before. The team with the most points at the end wins.