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クチンの猫６ 猫博物館２
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| マレーシア名物ピューター（錫）製の猫（4cm高、28リンギだったかな）(これは博物館で買ったのではありませんが…) |
| 日本の招き猫コレクション |
| ボルネオ野生猫の剥製（右はサラワク博物館のです）。 |
| 博物館内部：時間をかけて見るときっと発見があります。これからも充実させてほしいものです。展示の一部に猫まつりに参加した日本の団体が寄贈した、とても収蔵価値があるとは思えない手ぬぐいとか浴衣とかが、困ったように置かれていました。Ｓ県のＵ町ですが、ああいう恥ずかしいことはやめてほしいものです。 |
| 売店のショーウィンドウと購入した猫のＴシャツのうちの１枚：猫の写真を撮るときはこういうのを着ると絶大な効果があります。猫が寄ってくるわけではありませんが、住人に「あなた猫好きね」「どうぞ、どうぞ」といったかんじで協力してもらえます。 |
| Ｔシャツのクチン紹介文 |
CATS IN MALAY SOCIETY マレーシアの猫に関心があったので博物館のパネルの「マレー社会における猫」原文をそのままのせておきます。博物館に来てる気分でしょう？(写真に撮ったものから読み取ったので、一部想像で書いたものがあります)。
It is difficult to ascertain exact period when cats first began their assocoation and assimilation into Malay Society. The cat is the most popular, and most of the time the only pet kept by Malay families. As though in attestment of this fact, the cat appears in almost all aspects of Malay beliefs, superstitions, folklore and even traditions. The earliest mention of cats or kucing in Malay society appears in oral tradition and folklore about the Melaka Sultanate and it would seem safe to suppose that an association between cats and the Malays pre-existed the Melaka Sultanate. To support this belief, a reference suggesting an even earlier relationship can be found in a legend which declares that the lost town of Beruas in Perak, which historians now believe was established toward the later part of the tenth century A.D., was so large that "it took a cat three months to do the circuit of the roofs!" However, these references only help to underline the fact that cats have been an inherent part of Malay society for a long, long time. Traditional stories always have attached many superstition to cats in the belief that cats possess supernatural powers. Malays believe that it is lucky to keep cats because they long for a soft cushion to lie upon, and so indirectly wish for the prosperity of their master. On the other hand cats must be prevented from rubbing up against a corpse lest the bad or evil influence present in the cat's body enter into the corpse and endows it with unnatural life. Some Malays believe that one of the most effective methods of rain-making is to soak a cat in a pan of water until it is half drowned and this would surely produce an abundance of rain. There used to be numerous other taboos concerning cats that were once, very strictly adhered to, such as not allowing cats into tin mines lest bad luck should follow. All these and many other Malay traditional beliefs, superstitions, proverbs, saying and folklore serve to illustrate the close relationship that exists between cats and Malay society.
Copyright (C) 2002 Naomy
