Hello! this is our first visit to The Peranakan Museum, and we would like to share our thoughts!

Our preconceptions of the Peranakan culture:

- Peranakans are people with origins from the Malays and the Chinese.
- Peranakans are very wealthy people.
- Food prepared by the Peranakan were exotic and included many types of spices.

After our tour, we gathered much more about the Peranakan culture:

- The greetings and addressing of each family member is based on hierarchy of generations, regardless of age.
- The Peranakans originated as descendants of migrant traders and were married with the locals.
- They spoke Baba Malay and many of their practices were influenced by many Chinese practices.
- The dressing of the Peranakans are very elaborately sewn and similar to Malay wear.
- The wedding jewellery are crafted exquisitely, with intricate designs, and the bride and groom, or Baba and Nyonya as they were called, threw a very grand wedding ceremony with many tasty food prepared for the entire family and guests.

We really learnt a lot about the culture in which we find many similarities to our lives, and glad to have been here to look at the collection! :)

Cheers,
Youth&Culture Grp1
Singapore-Malaysia Youth Camp 2009

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Editor’s note:

Twenty participants from the 14th Singapore-Malaysia Youth Camp visited the Peranakan Museum for an institutional visit as part of the bilateral camp’s cultural exchange programme. The youths, 10 from Singapore and 10 from Malaysia, used Peranankan heritage as a point of departure to compare their heritage and identities. By asking what are the differences between Peranakan influences in Singapore and Malaysia, the aim was to encourage the youths to better understand their own cultural identities and the importance of preserving their own heritage .

This post from the Youth Camp’s participants’ aims to capture some of their reflections on what they have gained in this visit to the Museum. The reflections and notes from the other participants were posted on Yesterday.sg over the past few days, and we hope all other readers will likewise gain from them.

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