ABSTRACT
The granting of honours to British officials, like the awards to Malay rulers, is always the occasion for great public rejoicings and congratulations. Personal events in the lives of their leaders, whether English or Malay, are always cheerfully hailed by the Malays, to whom marriages and births are equalled in importance only by the ceremony of circumcision, which marks the entrance to manhood among them. All the Europeans in the district, together with the Malay rajas and the leading Eurasians, Chinese and Indians, will be invited to the teas and dinners, accompanied by the inevitable group photographs. In religion the present revival is on orthodox lines, tinged with a typically tolerant and kindly Malay spirit. The works mentioned, especially Skeat’s Malay Magic, show by a wealth of illustration how closely the Malays have adhered to ancient ritual and ceremonial, even when all their original significance has disappeared or is but slightly recognized and believed.
