Malaysia 4296 | Thailand 300 | |
 | ||
The Semang are a Negrito ethnic group of the Malay Peninsula. They are found in Perak, Kedah and Pahang of Malaysia. During the colonial British administration, Orang Asli living in the northern Malay Peninsula were classified as Sakai.
Contents
Lowland Semang tribes are also known as Sakai, although this term is considered to be derogatory by the Semang people. They have been recorded to have lived here since before the 3rd century. They are ethnologically described as nomadic hunter-gatherers. See also Bajaus and Aetas.
Semang Ethnic Groups
Orang Asli ethnic groups that are classified as "Semang" by the Malaysian government.
Culture
The Semangs live in caves or leaf-shelters that form between branches. A loincloth for the men, made of tree bark hammered out with a wooden mallet from the bark of the terap, a species of wild bread-fruit tree, and a short skirt of the same material for the women decorated with segments of bamboo in patterns to magically protect its wearer from disease, is the only dress worn; some go naked.
Scarification is practised. Young boys and girls are scarified in a simple ritual to mark the end of their adolescence. The finely serrated edge of a sugarcane leaf is drawn across the skin, then charcoal powder rubbed into the cut.
They have bamboo musical instruments, a kind of jaw harp, and a nose flute. On festive occasions, there is song and dance, both sexes decorating themselves with leaves.
The Semang bury their dead on the same day itself with the corpse wrapped in mat and the personal belonging of the deceased kept in a small bamboo rack placed over the grave. It is only people of importance such as chief or great magicians are given tree burial.
They have used Capnomancy (divination by smoke) to determine whether a camp is safe for the night.
In 1906 the Thai King Chulalongkorn adopted a Semang orphan boy named Khanung.