A bee bomor
This short note by J. D. Gimlette records his experience of engaging a Kelantan bomor (ritual specialist) to deal with a swarm of bees that had colonised his study, and compares Kelantan and Pahang beliefs regarding bees settling in a house (p. 422).
Summary
Gimlette describes the bomor’s arrival at dusk and his method of first physically removing the bees by stroking them with bare hands after sprinkling them with a rice-flour paste. He then performed a ceremony facing east, offering food (chicken, goat, buffalo, cakes, bananas, parched rice, and turmeric-dyed rice) and a gold ring on a tray, sprinkling water and parched rice about the room, and intoning a formula. Gimlette was directed to bathe and change clothes, after which the bomor blew over him while breaking slip-knots of palm leaf, supposedly restoring harmony between him and the bees (p. 422).
The bees did not leave, and on re-consultation the bomor agreed to relocate the swarm to a Malay servant’s house, carrying the entire bookcase cupboard outside at midnight. The bees departed the compound within a fortnight, leaving a cupful of honey and about half a pound of wax. Gimlette notes that Kelantan Malays regard bees coming to a house as a good omen but consider it unlucky to drive them from one house to another, whereas Pahang Malays see it as an ill omen requiring a menyambut ceremony. He closes with a personal reflection: shortly after the bees left, he fell seriously ill, and wonders whether dismissing them was the cause (p. 422).