My Longkang

From silat

Silat is an umbrella term used to describe the martial art forms practiced throughout the Malay Archipelago. Silat is a combative art of fighting and survival and it has been evolved in Indonesia, Malaysia and Brunei Darussalam civilizations for centuries into social culture and tradition.

From silat

During the colonization era, both in Malaysia and Singapore as British Colonies and in Indonesia as Dutch colonies, practitioners (locally known as pesilat) used the martial art as a form to liberate from foreign authorities.

The noun silat has a formidable arsenal of terms used to refer to martial arts in Southeast Asia. It can be said in Malaysia as seni silat (art of silat), seni bela-diri (art of self-defence) and sometimes ilmu silat (knowledge of silat).

From silat

In Sumatra, silat is known as silek and in Java and Indonesia as Pencak Silat. The Chinese fusion of silat is known as kuntao.

From silat

Silat began spreading throughout the Malay Archipelago in the seventh century AD, but its origin is still uncertain. Silat has been acknowledged as a genuine Malay art.

From silat

Malay people that have inhabited coastal cities of Sumatra island and Malay peninsula, from Aceh in the north to Kelantan, Kedah and Riau archipelago in the south, practiced silat.

From silat

Contacts with other ethnic groups in the coastal cities had also influenced silat. There is evidence that Chinese and Indian culture influenced the martial art forms.

From silat

When Islam spread throughout the archipelago in the fourteenth century, it was taught alongside silat. Silat became a spiritual training as well as being a combat art and folk dance.

From silat

Silat was refined into the specialized property of sultans, panglima (general) and pendekar (warriors) during the Malacca Sultanate, Majapahit and Srivijaya empires. It was the time when silat spread through Malay peninsula, Java, Bali, Sulawesi and Borneo. Malays, in particular in Malay peninsula, consider Hang Tuah as the father of silat.

Pics taken at the Kaul Festival in Mukah.

Source : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silat

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 30th, 2009 at 3:46 pm and is filed under Art and culture, Pesta Kaul. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.