I thought that I was going to have a tough time to take care of Zaki, but he was such an easy boy to take care. He also didn’t lie down on his bed all the time. In fact, he went up and down the staircase making me worried that he might fall, and make it worse. If I compared his circumcision with what my brothers went through before, it was totally different.
When my brothers had their circumcision done, it was such big occasion for the family. The whole family and kampong folk celebrated their journey to manhood. My Bang Ngah was 12 years old while my abang Zahir was two years younger than Bang Ngah. To celebrate, there was a big feast where everybody in the kampong was invited.
The event started early morning. The kampong people would come dressing in their best dress and brought some food or cookie with them. The morning tea was served and later, the womenfolk joined my family members to cook foods for lunch.
While the kampong people prepared the food, my parent was at the hospital with my brothers. At that time, it was uncommon for boys to circumcise at hospital. Most of the kampong kids had theirs done in the traditional way. Hmmm... I don’t encourage any of the young boys to go through that.
Before noon, my brothers reached home, and they were helped by the men to the house. They were taken to their special bed in the living room. At the living room, the ceiling was covered with a special cloth and so did the wall surrounding the bed. I didn’t know what it was for, but it has something to do with our customs.
My brothers were then put side by side, and their sarongs were then tied to a string which was strung to the special cloth. This was done in order to avoid the sarong from hurting the newly cut skin.
They were treated like princes, and they were not encouraged to get out from the bed. Foods and drinks were sent to them. There were always someone with them, and at night time, there was music to keep them company.
It was not live band singing rock songs, but a violinist and his group singing folk songs. The group was led by an old man known as To Ki Jambut, and it was the main event where everybody was looking forward to. Not only people from my kampong came to the house, but those from the next kampong also came to watch the performance by To Ki Jambut.
Heh! I don’t know whether my brothers enjoy the music, but for one thing they can still remember the old man.
Looking at what my brothers went through and what my kids went through, It was such a vast difference. We don’t have a big feast, no musician, no special treatment, no special place for them to sleep and the only common thing is the sarong still needs to be tied to avoid hurting the little birdie.
Ahh… modern world!
