Tonight there was a documentary on beauty secrets of the Peranakans. How coincidental. But my mum said tak perna nampak any bibiks use some of the methods mentioned. Bedak sejok yes, but not some of the others such as crushed mint leaves under the eyes (eh?)
Mak gua kata, lastime mana ada orang tau apa 'Peranakan'? Tak sampey Wee Kim Wee (a Baba) jadi president, baru ada 'Peranakan revival': interest in things Peranakan (like tonight's docu), people piping up saying their grandmothers were half-Peranakan or something. Suddenly Peranakan was hip.
It's said that the Peranakans used to enjoy the favour of the Brits during colonial times, because they eagerly adopted English interests, schooling etc. In the post-colonial era, however, they'd lost their wealth in the war and their British loyalties were probably viewed as anti-nationalist. Thus the Babas downplayed their ethnicity.
2 comments:
Hello BabaSingapura, gua nampak your nama over at NonyaPenang's blog, and being kapoh and gatal moh tengok siapa Baba ni? Gua tau LKY pun baba, kan? But no relation sama gua. nasib baik pun tu!
Ohh, you tiga generations pure Baba ahh?
Gua pun la, lebeh kurang empat, but suspect if gostan back past generations tentu our DNA, genes ada terchampur sikit sini sana la, what with uncles, fathers, even grandfathers suma kaki cabaret. I'm talking about Singapore's Happy World, Great World, Lucky World parks back in the 40's and 50's. Mana la tau sini sana ada main 'bedminton', ha ha.
Gua ingat my past generations ada pirates, bandits, and scandals pun, not too sure same gang as Kapitan Yap Ah Loy.
I have a lot of Baba Nonya relatives in Singapore today, but have lost touch. Dua grandfathers, each dua isteri, and few spares sini sana and no TV those days. So you can imagine la, what with sambal belachan dinner, da panas tu...Thats why bila gua tackle ladies in Singapore have to do abit of archaelogy takut tekena first cousin or aunty, alamak! Itu lecheh sikit. Can you imagine at a most intimate moment sekali find out she my long lost aunty? Alamak! Macham balloon angin terlepas!
Ahhh, but you only speak 'England', gua boleh tembak Cantonese (had to do crash course as my wife Cantonese, her mom satu England word pun ta'boleh, how to ask for her daughter tangan kawain like that?).
But my mom speaks Cantonese and Hokkien...so my Hokkien boleh pass with cabaret girls. Ha ha.
Okay, gua chabut home now, you have a nice day, Baba. UL.
Hi Babasingaupra,
Gua ini Penang mari mia 3rd generation nyonya. My late bercucuk-sanggul grandmothers and mom semua pakai strictly sarong kebaya nia lar.
Penang mari mia babas and nyonya can speak Hokkien but with a generous sprinkling of Malay words thrown in, eg. **senduk, timba, piring, chebok, sintok, berkemban, carut, dakap-peluk, etc....**.
Since I moved down to KL years ago, I hardly use those Malay words....gua mia kawan and even gua mia anak, tak faham apa gua cakap. hahahah.....
Past few years, there is a revival of sorts for all things Peranakan and the late wife of our PM, Datin Endon Mohmood, had been tirelessly promoting the sarong kebaya.
And I read in the papers too, that there is a Peranakan Club or Society of sorts and they have conferences in a few countries....the last one was in Thailand, or some where else, I am not to sure.
You have a great day. :)
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