The Neneks, The Moyangs AND The Pantangs...

Ok, hari ni im in the mood to story about pantangs. You know those taboos of cannot-this cannot-that kinds… I don’t know whether you were subjected to this when you were younger, but I had my fair share of it whilst growing up. Some more wa budak kampung. Not really kampung lah… My kampung was in South Buona Vista aka Pasir Panjang tapi the house was made of bricks and stone and cement. So is that considered kampung? LOL. So growing up in the kampung gave me a fair share of kampung pantangs from the neneks and the moyangs.

One of the things that I loved to do was reading whilst lying on my tummy. And I would dangle my two legs up in the air. Alah, senang cakap, meniarap and menyabong. And whenever someone, maybe an auntie, and usually it’s an auntie lah, or the grandma or the mum saw that antic of mine, a screech can be heard and the screaming started, “Eh mana bole menyabong gitu!!!!??? Nanti mak bapak matiiiiii……!!!!!!!!!” And automatically the legs will drop to the floor and I will suddenly find myself sitting up, mouth agape, eyes terbeliak like got toothpicks stucked between the eyelids like that. Yelah, sapa yang nak mak bapak mati dokkkkkkk……..????

That was one of the pantangs that I hold so dear to life when I was growing up. But then, as the otak became stuffed with knowledge and the mulut dah pandai menjawab, then I started thinking. Wait eh, what does dangling legs got to do with dead parents?

So sebenarnyalah kan, org2 tua dolu-dolu don’t want their womenfolk to look so uncivilised. Well, for a minah to dangle legs like that is not a pretty sight, so the neneks and the moyangs did a tagline like that so that the minahs are scared for their lives and will NOT dangle their legs like that. Easy solution.

Ni lah orang2 tua dulu. Kalao nak fikirkan balik, a lot of the pantangs, if we really hold on to them and believe in them, can actually lead us to be syirik, Naudzubillah. Take the above for example. Dangle legs = equals to = parents die. Cannot think like that mah. Kan dosa tuh. Ajal maut kan kat tangan Tuhan.

Interesting hor… Lemme see what other pantangs were there that I can remember of, or maybe you peeps can remind me of what I have missed out.

Pantang: Tak bole baring menyabong, nanti mak bapak mati.

Sebenarnya: As explained above, the neneks and the moyangs mata sakit tengok anak dara terkangkang terkiyap tertiarap-tiarap kat lantai. LOL.

Pantang: Anak dara tak leh duduk kat tangga rumah, nanti tak kawin. (this applies to tangga umah kampung lah, I guess)

Sebenarnya: Another one like the above also lah. Tak manislah minah2 duduk2 kat tangga rumah. Becoming tontonan orang lalu-lalang. (And aku tak pernah duduk kat tangga rumah, tak kawin2 pun sampai skrg hik hik hik… Ammi will surely roll her eyes if she knows I typed this mwahahaha!!)

Pantang: Anak dara tak leh menyanyi kat dapur, nanti dpt laki tua.

Sebenarnya: The neneks and the moyangs wanted the minahs to quickly finish up their whatever housework they have to do in the dapur. I guess singing hampers the speed at which they were doing the housework, so as to scare the minahs, this tagline was used.

Pantang: Tak leh jemur payung dlm rumah, nanti ular datang.

Sebenarnya: Tak nak orang tersandung and trip over the payung lah actually. And also the neneks and the moyangs don’t want the wet payungs to wet their house. Takkan lah pasal jemur payung dlm rumah, cik ular nak datang bertandang pulak kan. Hehehehe…!!

Pantang: Tak boleh amek gambar bertiga, nanti yang tengah2 mati dulu. (I’m quite surprised actually, a few friends of mine are believers of this. Now, even in this age.)

Sebenarnya: Maybe it happened that, there were three friends, took photo and the middle one died 1^st.

Or, there were three friends. Two of them wanted to take photo together and the 3^rd one was jealous, so he/she started the tagline. So the speculation became that whoever amek gambar bertiga, the tengah one die 1^st. Gitu. Dibawak turun temurun, sampai mcm real jadik criter tu. Takkanlah pasal tu je bole meninggal pulak kan. Secara kebetulan lah tuh….

Pantang: Tak boleh duduk atas bantal, nanti bisul.

Sebenarnya: The neneks and the moyangs heart very pain lah see the anak cucus sit on the bantal yang dijahit cantik-cantik. So kerana nak menjaga bantal tu jangan koyak or rosak, they created lah the bisul story. Lagipun, tak baik jugak lah kan, bantal yg buat rest kepala dibuat untuk letak bontot kita ni. And kalao kita pk balik pun, now punyer zaman, we are always siting on bantals what, right? Cushion pun bantal per.... And the ones who usually get the bisuls don't even remember siting on bantal kepala hehehehe...!!

Pantang: Tak boleh menjahit diwaktu senja/ malam, nanti mata guru buta.

Sebenarnya: Bila dah kene tegor gitu mcm mestilah takot kan, sapa yang suka tengok gurunya buta atau cacat whilst it is from the teacher that you got the knowledge from. Actually lah kan, the lesson to be learnt here is the neneks and the moyangs ckp mcm tuh pasal, dorang tak nak mata anak cucu dorang rabun due to bad lighting. Back then, org kampung kan, their source of lighting is lampu minyak tanah aka lampu colok. And also to prevent the finger from dicucuk si jarum.

Pantang: Tak boleh letak pinggan kat tapak tangan when eating (bertatang), nanti jadi perampas suami/isteri orang.

Sebenarnya: Orang tua tuh cuma nak warning tuh. Makan bertatang kan dangerous, orang terlanggar sikit, the pinggan will fall off the hand and bersepahlah nasi. So as to avoid extra work of cleaning, the neneks and the moyangs created this story.

Pantang: Dilarang bertukar-tukar tempat bila makan, nanti byk laki.

Sebenarnya: They just want you to sit at one place and eat lah dey. Yang kau makan merayap tuh buat apa?

And this one is a mystery till now...

Pantang: Tak boleh makan leher ayam, nanti leher terkulai kat pelamin.

Sebenarnya: Aku pun tak tau apa reason disebalik pantang ni. Penat berpikir otak ni. Maybe the neneks and the moyangs wanted the whole pinggan of leher ayam to themselves. They mati-mati donchwan to share the chicken necks with the anaks-cucus, hence the terkulai kat pelamin story. Ni aku punyer theory. Kalau korang ada theory lain, lemme know. Hehehehehe...

Amazing kan? All these pantang larangs. At this moment, somehow, the mind can’t remember any more pantangs. I believe, the pantangs dikuatkuasakan because the neneks and the moyangs just wanted to keep their anak-cucus in check lah. To teach them manners and to scare them so that they become civilised people.

Tapi like the mum said, dulu punyer anak-anak, dengar kata. Lagi-lagi the anak-daras, very naïve, mak cakap apa pun, they believe. And the mum had to add, “tak mcm kau, ada je nak menjawab kalao orang tua cakap.” Oppppppsssss!! Alah, sorrylah Ammi, but wa tak leh carry ah gini mcm punyer pantangs mwahahahaha…!! Pasal wa rasa tak logik lah Ammiiiiiii....!!! Hehehehe…!!

Anymore pantangs you would like to share?