Traditional Kraft Tangan - Shall Not Be Forgotten

How did you spend your April Fool? Did you just stay in your house just to avoid being fooled by other people? If so, you are really FOOLED. You might just missed some really fantastic event out there! As I know, Golden Screen Cinemas (GSC) gave away 25K of movie tickets on April Fool. In addition, Snowflake also gave out some really good deal.

Promosi Kraftangan Malaysia @ Great Easter Mall

Taken from above

On that day, I heard that there was an event going on in Great Eastern Mall. So what was this event? It was Promosi Kraf Tangan Malaysia which was organized by Kementerian Penerangan Komunikasi & Kebudayaan in conjunction with Hari Kebangsaan Kebudayaan 2012. This event were held in the Klang Valley. Their objective is to encourage the Malaysians to wear and use more of the Malaysia kraft tangan so that the great history about it will not be forgotten.


How much do you know about kraft tangan? I remembered I had seen kraft tangan came out in the essay part during the examination. However, I always choose other topic to write instead of kraft tangan Malaysia because I knew too little about it.

Congkak - Have you play this before?

In general, kraft tangan are the items such as ornaments that are from person hand-made or by using simple tools only. It is always made in a small scale only and not consider as kraft tangan if it is produced in a large scale. Traditional kraft tangan is very popular in Kedah, Kelantan and Terengganu. Examples of kraft tangan are batik, mengkuang, kain songket and others.

Colorful Batik

Kraft tangan is one of the interesting culture in Malaysia. It can be presented as gifts or souvenirs to other people.

In this event which lasted for 11 days (22/3 - 1/4/2012), there were plenty of booths that came from the states all over the Semenanjung Malaysia such as Kelantan, Kedah, Melaka, Terengganu and etc.They sell different kinds of kraft tangan such as congkak, pedang, batik, rattan-made objects and many more. In addition, some performances were held also in order to attract the public's attention.

A quartet performance of Chinese Instruments 

First - Gu zheng, Second - Di zi, Third - Er hu, Fourth - Gu

Kids posing in front of the performers

Kompang and some drums

From Johor. I wish I could own one of them

Some ceramics handicrafts from Selangor

Beautiful ceramics

Wood crafts from Selangor

Magnificent Wood Crafts

From Melaka 

Tenmoku from Selangor (bracelets)

Teapots

Only one set for each

Traditional handicrafts from Kelantan

It really requires a lot of patience in creating them

Totally had no idea what is this

Rattan made items from Kelantan

It really did broaden up my view about handicrafts. As a teenager from the 90-s, in addition living in KL, it really is a rare chance for me to see so much of handicrafts at once. Some of the sellers were really friendly. They allowed me to take picture and also removed all the unnecessary items just to let me take a better photo of the handicrafts. I really felt grateful and it was a very good day in Great Eastern Mall. 

BY: YEONG  YEE SIONG