The Pontianak, the Vampire and... the Sundal Tree

I admit to a long-standing fascination with vampire lore, which first started from childhood stories and movies about the pontianak. Back then, nothing could be more terrifying than a pontianak; but now, they seem to be sad creatures. According to old Malay folklore, women who die during childbirth were thought to turn into pontianaks if the proper rites and rituals were not observed. The modern variant of the pontianak folklore however maintains that they are the vengeful spirits of women who have been spurned in love and have taken their own life or women who have been murdered by their spurned lovers.

I vaguely remember that one of these funerary rites involved keeping an overnight wake to make sure that no cats (especially black ones) came anywhere near the body to awaken the spirit! The worst thing that could happen is for a cat to jump over the body as that will cause it to raise and walk among the living as one of the undead (in cultures as far-flung as Ancient Egypt and Thailand and also the Slavic countries, cats are thought to carry the spirit of the dead).

Available at http://www.mphonline.com

Not surprisingly, pontianaks are attracted to houses where a woman is about to give birth. They apparently feed on the blood and after-birth. To thwart the pontianak, it was common practice in the past to scatter thorns, nails and anything sharp on the ground below the houses (in the past, wooden houses were built above the ground on stilts). The modern-day pontianak however, prey mostly on men - as they seek out those who wronged them in life!

Another point to note is that pontianaks are said to be attracted to the sundal tree; a tree which bears white, heavily-scented night-blooming flowers. Pontianaks are thought to roost or seek shelter on sundal trees while waiting for a victim to pass by! Interestingly enough, the word sundal also refers to a woman of easy virtue. But what is a sundal tree? I'm asking this question because the sundal tree plays a role in my book, The Jugra Chronicles : Miyah and the Forest Demon.  Check out the review by Brigitte Rozario: http://parenthots.com/parents_corner/book_reviews/Wonderful-storytelling-in-Sarawak-tale.aspx
After an extensive internet search (and several false leads), it seems that the sundal could be one of the following trees:



the Frangipani/Champa/Bunga Kemboja

the frangipani (Plumeria sp), also known as champa in Laos and India, and bunga kemboja in Malaysia. This seems to be the ideal candidate as the frangipani is thought to be haunted by ghosts and demons in local folklore and often planted in cemetaries. But it is also known as the Temple Tree in Sri Lanka and often planted around Buddhist and Hindu temples. But the spanner in the works is that the Plumeria supposed to have originated in the New World! Apart from that, it has large sparse leaves - hardly a place for a creature of the night to hide. We had a large frangapani tree growing in the front yard of the house when we were living in Federal Hill, Kuala Lumpur but I never felt any supernatural energy from the plant!


Night Jessamine/Sundal tree?

The next candidate is the night jessamine (Cestrum nocturnum) also known as the Queen of the Night. The night jessamine seemed to have all the right attributes - a tree bearing large quantities of small white flowers which produce an overwhelming sickly sweet frangrance at night. But then again, it turns out to be a New World plant. Also the night jessamine is more of a large bush than a tree.

Parijat/Harsingar/Sundal?

The third candidate is the parijata or harsingar; other names for this flower are coral jasmine and night flowering jasmine. Nyctanthes arbor-tristis is also known as the sad tree or the tree of sorrow as its flowers are shed like tears, at the first light of dawn. The parijat is the only flower which can be picked from the ground to be given as offerings at temples; all other flowers have to be hand-picked from the plant. The parijat is also the state flower of Bengal. But the parijata is pure and unlikely to be the sundal tree

The fragrant tanjung blossoms are thought to be the tears of a faerie

Another flowering tree of note which is found throughout tropical Asia and Southeast Asia is Mimusops elengi. Known as the tanjung tree in Malaysia/Singapore and bakul/vakul tree in India. The tanjung flower or bunga tanjung appears frequently in Malay folklore, sometimes to represent a lost lover. There is an enchanting folktale about the tanjung flower, which like the parijat, is sweet-scented, blooms at night and is shed at the first light of dawn. According to the folktale, the flowers are actually the tears of a faerie, who was stranded in the forest because she was unable to find her magic selendang (a long scarf) which allowed her to return home. Similar folklore of stranded faeries (usually because someone has hidden her magic cloak) appears in many Asian cultures, from India to Japan. There is a re-telling of the Tanjung Blossom Faerie in my book, Timeless Tales of Malaysia. But the tanjung or vakul is the exact opposite of the sundal in folklore. It is considered as sacred by the Hindus and its frangrant 'flowers of paradise' are offered to both Vishnu and Siva as offerings. The flowers are also said to chase away evil spirits, unlike the sundal which is supposed to attract ghostly spirits!

My knowledge of Western vampire lore initially came from old Dracula movies played so menancingly well by Christopher Lee. But I admit to watching only one or two of those - there was just too much blood and the plot/story lacked finesse. I think Stephen King wrote a couple of books on vampires but his premise didn't make sense either - what was the point of turning an entire town into vampires if your main source of food happened to be living humans? Talk about eating yourself out of house and home!
It was Anne Rice and the movie that resulted from her book, Interview with a Vampire, who got me well and truly hooked into the genre. Finally, vampire lore that made sense - a small and very secret group who achieved immortality through an ancient bloodline; a vampire king and queen from ancient Egypt (see Queen of the Damned starring the tragic Aaliyah and the gorgeous Stuart Townsend).
However, my favourite vampire movie to date is Van Helsing; Peta Wilson also plays an extraordinary vampire in the role of Minnie Harker (a character from Bram Stoker's book Dracula) in the movie, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. But what got my pulse racing was the discovery that Count Dracula, a character created by Bram Stoker in his book Dracula (published in 1897) was actually based on a real person. Vlad Teppes or Vlad the Impaler, from Transylvania (in modern Rumania) whose father took the family name 'Dracul' which means 'dragon'. This information also triggered another memory... Malaysia's very own legend of Raja Bersiong or the Fanged King (for more info on Vlad Dracula and the Fanged King refer to the post on Raja Bersiong).

Asian Festival of Children's Content (AFCC 2012), Singapore

On 31 May 2012, I took the express bus to Singapore to attend the Asian Festival of Children's Content. It was a lucky confluence of events that brought me to Singapore -  we were required to fly from Zagreb to KL 'post-haste' in mid-May when I received an email from Tan Vay Fern about the Asian Festival of Children's Content which was only two weeks away! The venue was The Arts House, which was quite close to Chinatown. So I registered online, booked a room at The Inn at Temple Street and got the return bus ticket to Singapore.

In Chinatown - photo courtesy of Tan Vay Fern. We had fatty crabs for dinner at the restaurant in the background!

As I haven't visited Singapore for at least 15 years (we lived in Singapore from 1992 - 1995 and my daughter was born there), I was truly impressed with the changes I saw. It wasn't the ultra-modren architecture or the orderly streets - it was the greenery everywhere and the lack of pollution and congestion. Even modren high-rise buildings had terraces with flowering plants and some had roof gardens or even had climbing plants covering their walls! I had heard about their famous tagline - 'the garden city' - but I didn't think they could turn it into a reality.

Hard to believe, but I met Vay Fern in person for the very first time in Chinatown, Singapore! Although we had collaborated on Eight Treasures of the Dragon, it was entirely via email. I had heard of her before and knew that she was a young and successful illustrator, with at least eight children's books published to date. After a lot of walking along the colourful and busy Temple Street, we decided to have fatty crabs at a nearby restaurant for dinner. I had forgotten how scrumptious fatty crabs could be!

The last two days of the AFCC, which took place at The Arts House was exciting, mainly because I got to meet people I've only known on Facebook. The talks were great too but I noticed that some of the speakers used it as a platform to promote their own books rather than impart information/tips and a few were only recently published. I was also agrieved by the fact that there was no wifi at the venue! But the fact that it was being held at a historic building - the former Parliament  of Singapore -made it quite special.

The AFCC was a great opportunity to network - there were old friends like Dr Gwen Smith, and acquintances like Linda Tan Lingard (from the Yusof Gajah Lingard literary agency) and Daphne Lee (author/columnist/editor at Scholastic Malaysia). And people I met for the first time: Yusof Gajah, celebrated illustrator of children's books and his wife Zakiah; Teoh Choon Ean, the only author I know who actually makes money from writing books (in English); Quek Sue Yian, young and talented author of 'Khailash', a picture-book about a refugee zebra, illustrated by Khairul Azmir Shoib (Sue had a book launch and I bought a signed copy of  Khailash, ); Mohana Gill, award-winning author of  cookbooks,Vegemania and Fruitistic, and the 'Hayley' cook books for children; Naomi Kojima, a well known illustrator from Japan who bought a copy of my book 'Timeless Tales of Malaysia':); illustrator Isabel Roxas, Cecilia de la Campa from Writers House Inc; Sayoni Basu from Harper Collins India; Tarie Sabido, (an FB friend whi didn't recognise me) and a blogger from the Philippines; Salwah Abdul Shukor, a lawyer whose dream job is to write children's books; Denise Tan from Bookaburra (what a brilliant name for a book store); Shobna Janardanan from ASTRO, Rafilda Rahman from the SCBWI Malaysia; and last but not least Norhayati Razali from the Malaysian Book Council.

The highlight for me was the dinner at the penthouse of the National Library -great company, great food and what a view! Will I attend the AFCC again? For sure, especially as they are going to focus on Malaysia in 2013!

Timeless Tales of Malaysia

This has been an amazing year - I finally got a book published! Timeless Tales of Malaysia-a collection of folktales and legends from Malaysia -was published by Marshall Cavendish Children in March 2009.

It took eight rather long months from research, to writing out the stories, to editing the text and drawing the illustrations and at last adding the final touches to the last illustration before the book went to the printers. I had the help of a dtp artist, Lee Jin Jin, who coloured the illustrations with photoshop (what will we do without photoshop?)

Now all I'm waiting for is for the book to make an appearance in the book stores!

Timeless Tales of Malaysia is still available at the new Silverfish Books, located at Bangsar Village 2 and Kinokuniya, Kuala Lumpur in 2015!

The Dragon, the Phoenix and the Qilin - 1



Four-clawed Korean Dragon

The Dragon of the East is a legendary animal associated with fluid energy. It is said to influence weather and moving bodies of water. In old China, the Dragon, known as Lung, was a symbol of Imperial power and the emblem of the Emperor. The Imperial Throne was known as the Dragon Throne. The Chinese Imperial Dragon has five claws (toes), the Korean four and the Japanese, only three.
The Dragon is also one of the four celestial guardians. They are: Azure Dragon of the East, Vermilion Bird of the South, White Tiger of the West and Black Tortoise of the North. These four guradians also represent the four meridians and are associated with the four elements: Wind (Dragon), Fire (Phoenix), Water (Tiger) and Earth (Tortoise).
In India and Southeast Asia, the Dragon is known as the Naga. The supreme Naga is Anantha-Sesha, the symbol of time and eternity, and brother to Manasha, goddess of snakes and fertility. Nagas live in Patala, the seventh and lowest of the nether realms.
The are four types of Naga or Lung: the Heavenly Naga guards the celestial palaces; the Divine Naga brings rain to the earth; the Earthly Naga guards the mineral resources under the earth, and the Hidden Naga, is the naga spirit. Female naga are called Nagini and can shape-shift into beautiful women who seduce men into the watery depths. In the Harry Potter books, Lord Voldemort's familiar (called Nagini) is probably a Nagini.
Nagas are fierce enemies of the Garuda, a race of bird-men.
The Dragon is a symbol of auspicious power and success. However, it also has a dark and destructive side and can cause catastrophic floods and tsunamis.

In the second TV series of Lost Girl, Lachlan the Ash (king of the Fae) turns out to be a Naga. The Fae world is divided into Light Fae and Dark Fae, two factions who are constantly battling for dominance. It eventually emerges that the Ash is a Light Fae, despite his manipulative and ruthless nature. Not surprisingly, he had to battle the Garuda, an extremely powerful Dark Fae. As the battle with the Garuda draws closer, Lachlan must convince Bo, the beautiful and fiesty but non-aligned succubus, to help him against this formidable foe (the succubus mostly side with the Dark Fae). Although the Garuda actually kills Lachlan in their final battle, Bo and her allies manage to kill the Garuda with the venom obtained from Lachlan, in his Naga incarnation.

In the series, Lachlan, a character I love to hate, is played by Vincent Walsh; Anna Silk plays the gorgeous but surprisingly vulnerable Bo (Beau). Her best friend is a human called Kenzi played by the gothic Ksenia Solo. The love of Bo's life is Dyson, the shapeshifting werewolf who is also a Light Fae, played by Kris Holden-Ried. You might remember seeing Holden-Ried as the monstrous Lycan (what else?), Quint Lane in  Underworld: Awakening.

The Singing Phoenix

The Phoenix is a magnificent bird with feathers of vermilion and gold. It is a creature of fire and is sometimes depicted surrounded in an aura of flames. In Eastern culture, it is more likely to be surrounded by verdant plants and flowers.

According to legend, a Phoenix will build itself a nest of cinnamon twigs when its life is about to end. The dying Phoenix will rest in the middle of the nest and ignite it; both the nest and bird will burn into ashes. Then the ashes will burst into flame again and a new Phoenix will be reborn from its ashes!

This fabulous bird is called Feng Huang in China; it is the second most important legendary animal, after the Dragon. It is also one of the four Celestial Guardians in East Asian culture: The Azure Dragon of the East, the Vermilion Bird of the South, the White Tiger of the West and the Yellow Tortoise of the North.

In ancient South-East Asia and India, two races of bird-like creatures were said to exist; they are the gentle Kinaree and the fierce Garuda. A similar bird-human hybrid called the Tengu exists in Japanese folklore. The Garuda and the Tengu are bitter enemies of the Naga and the Dragon as they feed on serpents.

The Phoenix is the emblem of ancient Lebanon which used to be called Phoenicia. Its people were the Phoenicians, the people of the Phoenix.

This legendary bird is also the emblem of the Empress of China.

The Phoenix represents the element of fire and symbolises immortality

The Qilin is a chimera

The Qilin is a chimera. This fabulous creature is an omen of great good fortune and blesses all who are lucky enough to gaze upon it. The Qilin has two forms - an ancient form of a fierce feline with dragon-like attributes and a more recent dragon-deer hybrid.
The Qilin is said to walk on earth and on water. It is a fierce guardian of the earth but does not harm any other living creature. It is said that the Qilin does not disturb even a single blade of grass when it walks on land.
According to legend, a Qilin appeared before the birth of Confucius, and the sighting of a Qilin is supposed to herald the birth of a great sage or a wise and benevolent ruler.
In Chinese culture, it is the third most important legendary animal, after the Dragon and the Phoenix. However, in Japan and Korea, where the Qilin is known as the Kirin, it is revered above all others.
The Qilin represents longevity, grandeur, compassion and wisdom.











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Writers' Circle Meeting

September 8, 2007
I finally attended a Writers' Circle meeting, organised by MPH at 1 Utama (a frighteningly gigannormous and somewhat user-unfriendly shopping complex!) As the speaker was children's book reviewer Daphne Lee, whom I had wanted to meet for some time, I just had to turn up. The moderator was Sharon Bakar, a book editor and self-confessed bibliophile.

Daphne was speaking on the daunting topic of "How to write good children's books"! In general, I agree with most of the points she made. The gist:

Daphne's advice was first of all, not to dummy down a book as she believes children should read above their level ( I agree). She also does not believe in teaching or preaching in her books - if a certain moral position occurs naturally that is fine but she will not write for the sole purpose of preaching (absolutely!). However, according to Daphne, writers should not be afraid to address serious/thorny issues or bad behaiviour in their books. Her advice is to know what you want to say and to be true to the story and the characters and also to yourself.

There was a lively discussion after the talk. One of the members of the audience asked if one should write about topics of current interest or follow certain popular trends etc According to Daphne, one should alwys write about something we are passionate about otherwise we will not give our best to the book. Point taken, but it doesn't hurt to keep an eye on current trends!

The topic than turned towards marketing books. Eric Forbes, from MPH publishing, gave the advice, that from the marketing point of view, it was better to publish a series of books on the same subject or with the same characters. We all agreed with this as a book will be "lost" by itself among so many books in a bookstore. I also pointed out the fact that my daughter, who is an avid reader, often said that she preferred books with several sequels! (She also thinks a book with less than 200 pages is not worth reading) From the psychological point of view, I think we grow to like a certain character in a book and regard him/her as a friend and therefore want to 'visit' them often!

Another participant thought that children's books should be published as cheaply as possible and should not be too good in terms of quality! Naturally, this was a position I totally disagreed with. I said children's books should be as high quality as possible because they are treasured and read and re-read for a long time. Adults fiction, on the other hand end up in the bin after one reading!

As I had to rush off to pick up my daughter, I didn't get to meet Daphne after all.

Rumah Ku Book Group

I belong to a Children's Book Writers' Club and we meet once a month to read and critique each other's work. We always meet on the last Thursday of the month at the same time and place.
I've only been a member of this club for about six months and I was introduced to the club by Eleanor, who is an old friend of mine.
Apart from giving constructive criticsms, members of the Club also act as a support group and try to help each other get our works published. Hyacinth has already found a publisher (SASBADI) and her series of books for young adults should be out soon!

August 30, 2007: Gwen presented a story about a child's birthday party and a clown who had brought rabbits with him to entertain the children. Hyacinth liked it but I thought that Gwen should make the relationship between the children/characters clearer. Gwen said that she wrote from a child's point of view.

The members also gave their comments about a folktale I rewrote called Manohra. Hyacinth thought that the ending was too abrupt, as if I wanted to end the story as quickly as possible! Eleanor agreed with Hyacinth and commented that Manohra changed her mind and accepted the prince back too easily after she had decided to leave him. I had to admit that they were right as I had left out the seven years of hardship the prince had to go through to win her back!

I also announced that Kim's book "Ah Fu, the Rickshaw Coolie", published by MPH, is already out in bookstores. Interested readers can refer to her blog choongkweekim.blogspot.com/ for more information regarding this book.

July 27, 2007: All of us were present except for Eleanor. Gwen presented a story about a child who was not happy with the present his grandfather had bought him. However certain events proved how useful the present was. We all liked the story.

The group also critiqued my story "The Sister", which was based on a Korean folktale. Judy didn't like it and said there was nothing she could take from the story as it was too depressing! Hyacinth liked it however and said it was characteristic of Asian folktales which often have sad endings. Gwen asked if the story was about a werewolf and Hyacinth siad it was about a werefox (a nine-tailed fox demon, actually!)

Other comments: Gwen said that pollen (like fish) is always singular! She also pointed out that landowner has a different meaning from landlord (a landowner works his own land, a landlord rents out his land to others). Judy said that the expression "at the end of her tether" is too obscure for today's children and I should change it to something simpler e.g. "at a loss"!
I had a lot of corrections to do!

June 17, 2007. The group met at Rumah Ku and was joined by John Lee from Sasbadi and S.K. Maniam, a noted Malaysian writer. John Lee briefed us about the kind of stories Sasbadi is looking for: books for young adults focusing on social problems. Not exactly our cup of tea as the club members write stories for younger children, while I write stories for young adults based on folktales.

Judy asked S.K. Maniam if he wrote books for children as well. According to him, even novels for adults requires one to be able to write with a child's voice as there are many characters in a book.

When the gentlemen left, the group reviewed a story by Gwen about an excitable child. Everyone liked it but suggested that the ending needed to be jazzed-up a bit. Eleanor presented her story (in rhyming verses) about elephant poachers in Borneo. We suggested a more plausible ending for the story. We were fascinated by the fact that elephants ate durians by swallowing the entire fruit!

The group also reveiwed my story, "Bawang Putih And Bawang Merah". Most of the group had heard of the story before in one form or other.

BETEL, BANYAN, BASIL & BAMBOO

This blog is named after the four symbolic plants of Asia:



BETEL - Known as 'sirih' in Malay and 'paan' in Hindi and Bengali. The leaves of the Betel vine is chewed with slivers of Areca nut with a dash of white lime. The Betel leaf and the Areca nut has been associated with marriage and friendship throughout the Tropical Monsoon lands of Asia; from India all the way to Vietnam and the Philippines! In the past, a marriage proposal in these countries must always be accompanied by a tray of betel quids.

According to Mabel Cook Cole, a Philippina folklorist: 'The betel-nut is the nut of the areca palm. It is prepared for chewing by being cut into quarters, each piece being wrapped in betel-leaf spread with lime. It produces a blood-red spittle which greatly discolors the teeth and lips, and it is used extensively throughout the Philippines. While it appears to have been in common use among the Tinguian at the time these stories originated, it has now been displaced by tobacco, except at ceremonies when it is prepared for chewing; it is also placed on the animals offered for sacrifice to the spirits. Throughout the tales great significance is given to the chewing of betel-nuts before names are told or introductions given, while from the quids and spittle it appears to have been possible to foretell events and establish relationships.

BANYAN - This is the tree most favored by the Buddha as a resting place and is believed to be blessed. The Banyan tree, also known as the Bodhi, is found all over Asia and is believed by many to harbor benevolent tree spirits. The Banyan and the Sacred Fig are revered by Buddhists.

BASIL - The Asian Basil is also known as Holy Basil (Tulsi) and is the plant most favored by Vishnu; any offerings to Vishnu must include a sprig of Tulsi. Holy Basil also plays an important role in Buddhist rites as the Buddha is believed to be an avatar of Vishnu. The leaves of the Holy Basil is also widely used in cooking in Thailand and Myanmar.

BAMBOO - Bamboo is one of the four noble plants in Chinese culture and is thought to represent the quality of endurance and steadfastness. The Bamboo is important in both a symbolic as well as practical way. The beautiful plant appears in many paintings and as decoration in art and household objects. The stem of the bamboo is also important for making furniture, household items and even musical instruments. The Bamboo plants only flowers once in its lifetime of about 50 years and dies immediately after that.