Malaysia's Nude Dancing Voodoo Lady
Malaysia's Star newspaper reports a story about a nude dancing bomoh from Kota Baru in Northeast Malaysia up near the Thai border. The female "bomoh" (witchdoctor) apparently dances in the nude with young men as part of her "treatment for patients".
A teacher brought his sick wife to the bomoh, who danced in the nude with some of her "kept" men and then the "ibu" (mother) would sit on a chair with a yellow umbrella over her uttering unintelligible incantations which sounded like the singing of Quranic verses according to the teacher.
The story gave me a chuckle and reminded me of Richard Pryor's comedic characterization of the fictional Mudbone, the wino philosopher who takes his friend Toodlums to the see the voodoo lady in Jefferson to remove a mojo. Unlike Toodlums though, who ended up being turned into a polar bear with "tiny feets", the Malaysian teacher and his wife luckily escaped unharmed.
The story gave me a chuckle and reminded me of Richard Pryor's comedic characterization of the fictional Mudbone, the wino philosopher who takes his friend Toodlums to the see the voodoo lady in Jefferson to remove a mojo. Unlike Toodlums though, who ended up being turned into a polar bear with "tiny feets", the Malaysian teacher and his wife luckily escaped unharmed.
Labels:
Bomohs and Black Magic,
Malaysia
2 comments:
Great blog. As a young man that has traveled to Southeast Asia a few times, I really appreciate the insights into life in KL and Singapore (and everywhere else, too). The post on the incorrectly perceived poverty of the bargirls was spot on... what can I say, I've been to the Philippines.
I hate to close with the shameless plug, but if you ever meet someone that's in the market to hire an educated young american, I'd love to make a return to Southeast Asia =)
-travis
traviswmiller@gmail.com
Glad you enjoyed it.
Best I can suggest for you is to come out here yourself and see if the life of an expat is for you you.
Sometimes looks can be deceiving.
Lao
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