Main Teri and Urf elements in it PDF

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The elements of Urf in cultural practice of Main Teri...

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452. Main Teri

Main Teri is an indigenous healing therapy with some theatrical features. The tradition also typically involves the elements of dance, music and chanting. The conductor or the principal figure of the ritual is referred as a ‘bomoh’. He is assisted by a ‘tok minduk’ who acts as a spirit-interrogator and usually also plays the three stringed violin called as rebab (spike fiddle), leading the musical ensemble. As the Tok Puteri summons, into his own body, the spirit responsible for causing the patient’s illness, the Tok Minduk questions the spirit to ascertain its identity and determine why the spirit is unsettled. As the spirit takes possession of him, the Tok Puteri dances in a state of trance. Negotiations and offerings take place to appease the spirit to ensure that it will cease disturbing the patient. If the illness is due to loss of semangat or an imbalance of angin, the patient is encouraged to physically participate in the performance to bring about his or her emotional and spiritual release.1 The healing practices can be related to Tantric aspects, where the an illness is personified as a malevolent spirit or loss of spirit (jiwa or semangat). The beginnings of Main Teri practices date back to the pre-Islamic times. It is believed to be existing since 6000 BC. This healing performance tradition found mainly in the northern eastern Malaysian state of Kelantan. In the Kelantanese worldview, such illnesses are due either to an attack by malignant or unsettled spirits, a loss of semangat (soul or life-essence) or an imbalance of angin (inner wind) within a patient’s body The Main Teri ritual normally will be conducted in the night. There will be invocation, offerings and hours of prayers conducted during the ritual. However, the actual healing ritual is saved until it is before the dawn because it is believed that it is in that time where the spirits are forced to leave the human world. The Main Teri ceremony will be accompanied with traditional orchestra which will last a whole night, or sometimes several nights. The theatrical features of a main Teri ritual include dances accompanied by singing and an orchestra. The spirit’s arrival is made known by the change of the dance style towards uncontrolled, jerky trance movements. Then follows the actual communication with the spirit including offerings and negotiations by the shaman. This dialogue-like communication with the spirit of the illness may last long and it often includes even obscene humor.2 Tok Puteri actually helps his patients to overcome the illness through his self-conscious. His patients do not possess any spirit outside of their bodies. The situation that actually occurs to the patients is they were taken by the shaman to a world where they know the wind in their inner selves. The wind is a reflection of someone’s personality. He added most of the illness that treated through the Main Puteri are the windy illness that used to occur and sourced from the type of their personality called Angin Dewa Muda. 3 1 PUSAKA. 2021. Communities - Main Puteri — PUSAKA. [online] Available at: [Accessed 23 September 2021]. 2 Asian Traditional Theatre & Dance. 2021. Indigenous Traditions: Main Puteri and Mak Yong | Asian Traditional Theatre & Dance. [online] Available at: [Accessed 21 September 2021]. 3 (2021) accessed 23 September 2021...