Melanau Seduan Traditional Marriage - Part 1

Now our family have an alliance with the Spaniards after my cousin tied her knot with a Spanish guy. The wedding was held at my kampong way back in Sibu which known as Kampung Nangka or we called it Jackfruit Village by some young generation nowadays in FB.

Although there is language barriers among the Spanish and the Jackfruit Villagers, but we have one thing in common which is sports. Through sports some of my relatives can communicate with the spaniards such as mentioning the name such as Fernando Torres, Alonso, Xabi Alonso, Nadal and etc. Ric, my cousin husband can speak in English and he become the translators between his side and our sides. Some of them can speak in English but not that fluent and sometime we communicate with some sign language.

The wedding was held in a full Melanau Nangka/Seduan customs which also my uncle tries to preserve and showcase to the young generations on our lost cultures. As my uncle is the headman of the village and my cousin is the only daughter out of 3 siblings, the whole village under his jurisdiction and some VIP were invited.

My cousin dad, Penghulu Sahari Ubu with Ric dad welcoming the kampung folks for the wedding

A huge crowd attend the wedding

Some of the villagers came to the wedding.

YB Awang Bemee, the state representative for DUN Nangka

In Melanau custom wedding, there is a hierarchy in the community which will determine the number of gifts or “pikul (in Melanau)” needs to present to the bride and bridegroom families. There are 12, 9, 7 and 5.

Number of Gifts / Pikul	Reserve for
12	·         Highest hierarchy in Melanau community ·         This numbers of gifts is for those couple that getting married is having “Abang” and “Dayang” in front of their name.
9	·         Middle class hierarchy in Melanau community ·         Only applicable if both couple is a Melanau and in the same hierarchy.
7	·         Commoner hierarchy in Melanau community. ·         A melanau married with other race or the same hierarchy.
5	·         The lowest hierarchy in Melanau community. ·         In the olden days, this hierarchy is for slaves.

Me and my cousin have the same numbers of “Pikul” which is 7 pikul as both of us married other race than a Melanau. For Melanau, some of the pikul might be different from each other depends on the area. As for the pikul for Melanau Seduan /Nangka are as follows:-

• .       Penyekap (Spear head and 2 golden rings)
• .       Ulau Berien (A Canon, A Gold Bracelet and A Necklace)
• .       Berien (7 pikul, 1 pikul = RM25)
• .       Pakan ( Must be more than RM50)
• .       Luquo (RM12.50)
• .       Sersei (Amount is not fix depends on the bridegroom sides)

The Su'ruung Berien Items

In the olden days, the ceremony may take few weeks or months before the wedding day. The ceremony starts with few discussions amongst both bride and bridegroom family to be agreed upon on the amount and gifts need to be given. The bridegroom will sent a group of representative to the bride family to discuss on the wedding matters. Been told that the representatives need to know how to negotiate and answer few riddles before the discussion begins. Once the discussions been agreed upon, the representative will return to the bridegroom site to bring the news on the demand given by the bride side.

The brides' side representative

The bridegroom representative with their gifts

Start negotiating for the gifts.

Examine each of the items either it meet the elders requirement

Accepting the gifts from the bride side.

For this ceremony, it had been plan so 30 minutes later, the ceremony called adat Seru’ung Berien was conducted. The bridegroom will sent their representatives again to offer their gives to the brides side. Then the brides’ side will greet them and offer them to enter the house. Then they will discuss on the gift again either the bride side accept with the gifts offered. In the olden days, sometimes the bride side might reject the offer if the gift does not meet to their expectations. As this had been planned, the bride side accept the offer and their exchange the gifts accordingly to symbolize that the brides’ side agreed and the wedding can proceed.

Once the bridegroom representative returned back bringing the good news, now the bridegroom are welcome to go to the brides’ house for the wedding celebration. There are few customs need to perform when the bridegroom climb up the staircase where the elder will sprinkle the “beras kuning” or yellow rice as a blessing. Some chants will be performs so that all good things will follow.

The new generation of Jackfruit Village Melanau. All are mix blood.

Playing the traditional instrument

Playing the traditional instrument

Dancing according to the music beat.

My grandma assist Ric after sprinkle him with beras kuning.

My grandma accompanied Ric to the Pelamin where my cousin Anit waiting for him

Blessing from the elders.

Once the blessing, the bridegroom will be brought to the pelamin where the brides’ will be waiting for him. As both were at the pelamin, the elders will throw some beras kuning again and will chant for blessing from the ancestors.

The ceremony does not end there yet, the next step is to climb the main staircase three times which both bride and bridegroom will climb the staircase together. There will be a big flat stone down the staircase which both couple need to step on it. Not sure what it symbolize but need to ask details from my grandma as most of the times, any melanau ritual my grandma will involve. 


As nowadays, being brought in kampong style, i can see the younger generation in my village are not keen in learning their roots and hoping the new generation will adapt the traditional wedding on the big days. Like mine, my wedding was held in 3 event which is melanau traditional wedding on the first day, the second day was the church wedding followed with luncheon at my kampong and dinner reception at night. The preparation takes month to prepared but in the end, both me and my wife satisfied with it. To my cousin Anita and her husband Ric, congratulations and now the Jackfruit Village is having alliance with the Valencia Spain.