말레이시아 말레이인 일생의례의 문화적 특징과 의미

Abstract

Although Malaysia choses Islam as national religion, the nation has realy shown a variety of belief systems among which we would find Hinduism, Buddhism, and Animism. Most scholars having studied them regarded the aspect of Malay traditonal belief systems as syncretism. This trait of the belief systems in Malaysia is revealed wel in the sphere specifcaly as the rite of pasage, to which I do rather prefer the rite of "life" from the sense of emphasizing the rituals varied by the cycle of life time. Under the perspective this paper examines the real phases of the rite of pasage, or life of Malays. I wil argue here the fact that in performing the rite of pasage, Malays mobilze various arts on the basis of the syncretic faith acepting the supernatural, or keramat, with almighty power. Therefore, from the study of the rite of pasage we can exactly scrutinize how Malays have altered and adjusted their belief systems in real world.