Rewang - Then and Now

Tradition of Rewang

Written by Haswari Ali (translated by me)
Rewang - Then and Now

Its been a very long tine since I last went for rewang. The last being a few years ago, that's being a wedding of family members. In my teenage years, we would go for any rewang chores during the school holidays, mainly due to the fact, I have to accompany my grandma to relatives or neighbours wedding preparations.

Everyone has duties to perform in rewang, be it in the kitchen, inside the house, the bridal suite, bridal dais and the visitors tent, depending on your choices. If you tend to be tired performing those chores, one could always find the omnipresence of 'Kuih Bahulu' (local fluff cookies) dipped in either black hot coffee or cold red syrup.

I could still recall sitting on the long timber benches for peeling the onions or meat cuttings and also the nostalgia of metal flex chairs for proper table seats. Nowadays we could only get the boring white plastic chairs. Even then, the chairs are only allowed to be used on wedding reception days. Its almost an accepted trend today that the visitors tent, chairs etc would only be set up on the day itself and taken back the day after.

Well the rewang culture has slowly eroded from the minds of today's generation. In its place is the emergence of 'Catering' culture and the impersonal touch of serving meals. Gone were the togetherness and community spirit.