Remembering ancestors with rituals, music and food

Camera-shy: Tourists and visitors at the Ari Muyang ceremony on Pulau Carey take the opportunity to snap photos with a masked dancer during a break in the celebrations.

THE prayers and worship had started two days before, but the third day was when the Mah Meri’s Ari Muyang, or Ancestors’ Day, was open to the public to view their rituals.

In a wooden hut in Kampung Sungai Bumbun’s clearing on Pulau Carey, Selangor, the medium or wakil moyang, and his assistants were busy laying out food offerings in front of four carved figurines.