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tortoise
ICH Elements 2
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Tortoise Martial Arts
The martial arts of Malay Silat has long been established in Terengganu through interactions with other parts of the archipelago which enabled various Silat branches to prosper. However, in Hulu Terengganu, a unique type of Malay martial arts was born, quite different from the mainstream styles of martial arts. It has all started after watching a fight of two tortoises, all through an acute observation and aspiration of a Malay martial arts teacher in Hulu Terengganu more than half a century ago. It was told that the Silat teacher went for a solitude in a cave. During his solitude, he saw a quarrel between two tortoises fighting over a bunch of banana. The Silat teacher was intrigued by its graceful defensive and non-violence movements and started to mimic its movements, thus creating a unique style found only in Hulu Terengganu. This tortoise style of Silat has been inherited and still widely practiced by the villagers especially in Kampung Menerung and Kampung Gunung in Hulu Terengganu.
Malaysia -
The Tortoise Dance
The Tortoise traditional dance was inspired by the community’s observation of tortoises that live in rivers, lakes or pools. It started from an event whereby a fisherman unexpectedly hooked a tortoise. The community made the event as a joke, there then sparked a tortoise dance movement. This dance was in its splendour era during the 1950s to the 1960s. This dance was spotted at the earliest originated and rooted at Sarang Tiong Village, Endau, Kuala Rompin, Pahang, inspired and developed by expert individuals in the martial arts of silat, and created as entertainment. A dancer’s body movement and facial expression are according to a tortoise’s behaviour. The dance movement and dancers’ facial mimics are adapted so as to add to the humourous entertainment element that can attract the audience with comedy actions as well as entertaining. There are three versions of this dance according to its location. At Sarang Tiong Village it was inspired from an event whereby a wife who had a penchant to eat tortoise but her husband could not catch one. Then the wife dreamt an old man gave her the tip to catch a tortoise and that was to use banana bait as this is the tortoise’s favourite food. After the incident tortoise became a hot topic at the village. To celebrate the success there then sparked an idea to realise a dance form from a tortoise’s movement that can attract the public with a humorous and tickling performance. The Tortoise Dance at Pulau Rumput Village, Pekan, Pahang was brought in by Mr Iderus bin Ginuh from Alai Village in Rompin to Pekan in 1964. At Jambu Village, Pekan this dance is based on the experience of a fisherman named Pak Ngah Hitam in Endau, Kuala Rompin who was amazed at a tortoise’s behaviour when trying to eat his bait. He then imitated the tortoise’s actions and stylised a dance resembling that of a tortoise movement with no link to the silat matial arts movement.
Malaysia