To The National Museum II

The Coffin Exhibition: Tradition & Myteries is held from 01 April to 20 June, 2010. Entrance fee to the exhibition cost RM2 for adults and free for children under 12 and students in uniform. For those wishing to take photos, there's a charge of RM3 for still photography (camera or handphone) and RM5 for video camera. I guess one can opt not to pay and still take photos because nobody checks anyway but would you grudge the museum a mere RM3?

I know I shouldn't complain, what with the fee being so cheap but I do wish there were pamphlets available for visitors to read about the exhibition. Granted, each exhibits had ample explanation available but you'd have to take photos of them too to remember what each exhibit represents.

Photos of some of the exhibits: 
The Perak Man, aged 13,00years. 
The skeleton was discovered in 1991 during an archaeological excavation work in Gua Gunung Runtuh.
Gua Niah's boat coffin or 'death ships' used by early Sarawak communities. The coffins were stashed deep within the cave’s limestone crevices.

Mah Meri's (a subgroup of the Senoi tribe) bamboo coffin and wooden plank. Mah Meri means "Orang Hutan or Forest People".
A Bateq burial. Bateq people lived at the remote area of north Pahang, west Terengganu and south Kelantan. They interred their dead on a wooden or bamboo platform high up in trees.
A child's coffin of the Barito Dayak tribe in West Kalimantan.

Malay funeral. 
Simple coffin draped with kain batik for use to transport the body to the grave. Malay funeral generally follows Islamic rites with a mix of ancient custom practiced over the years.
A 14K gold coffin on loan from Nirvana Memorial Park, at the Chinese section.
Altar where burning incense and a lit white candle are placed is positioned at the foot of the coffin.
Indian burial
and the items needed for th burial rites.
A Kelabit Lungun coffin for their aristocrats. The tribe from Sarawak swathed the coffin in colourful fairytale-like motifs and carved in the shape of a mythical animal called the balan tanah, a cross between a dog and a dragon. In the olden days, it was kept in the family apartment within the longhouse.
A Buffalo Erong (coffin) of the Toraja; originating from the Sa'dan region of Central Sulawesi.
Chair coffin used by the Kalanguya community of Luzon Island in Northern Philippines.
A child coffin of a sub-ethnic community in Northern Thailand was the last exhibit on display.

Comments

  1. oh 1 from Phils too!

    happy weekend Lina and family!!

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  2. @Ayie,
    Foong is rather quiet these days. ;)

    Do you know about the chair coffin Ayie? I find it interesting that they put the dead body in a sitting position, all dressed up.

    Hope you & family have a great weekend too!

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  3. Interesting! Thanks for sharing.

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  4. Ayie and Lina, I'm busy these days and no, I'm not that quiet if you follow me on Twitter and Facebook : )

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  5. What? The entrance fee so cheap? Surely they can charge RM10 for entrance? But I'm not complaining! Haha!!

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  6. Oh, good! At least they allow photography. Won't be fun if photography not allowed.

    So all coffins, no corpses?

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  7. Wow! 14K gold coffin from Nirvana Memorial? Why would anyone want a gold coffin?

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  8. Chair coffin? What is that? The corpse placed sitting? Not lying down? Scary!!

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  9. So nothing followed you back to your home? Good! Anyway, if anything follow you back also - it has to compete with the existing ones in your home! Haha!!

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  10. @foong,
    As far as I know, no takers yet for the gold coffin. :D

    Yes, the corpse was place in a sitting position on the chair coffin. The chair will be put away somewhere and after sometime, the family will come and gather the bones (as far as I understand, googling the info).
    That chair is actually 500 years old!

    I think nothing followed anyone because surely a cleansing ceremony of some kind was done prior to the exhibition. Except for some coffins, most of the exhibits are props.

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  11. Oh Wow! Just the other day i was passing by and saw the banner for this coffin exhibition... wanted to go but i guess i wont be allowed to at the moment? jeez... missing out a lot of things right now..

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  12. @Cindy,
    Yeah, I think you'd better not even if you are not superstituous. :D

    There are more exhibitions coming up at the museum - maybe you can check those out. :)

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  13. yup it's during old old time in native grounds

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  14. didn't know this was on display... actually it's probably been decades since I ever set foot in the national museum! thanks for all the pix!

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  15. @*lynne*,
    Likewise. :)
    Actually, if not for the fact that we were killing time at Lake Garden, we wouldn't have set foot to the museum. :D

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