Malamang celebration in West Sumatra, Indonesia

I am not sure exactly what this celebration is, nor have i ever heard it before.

A friend who joined us in the recent Orphanage visit invited us to as she said as village festival in her hometown.

At first, i thought it was just about some dining, so was not really that keen in attending. Yet, their hometown in Pariaman is close to a jail which I have for long wanted to visit. Hence, I said yes under the assumption that I'll get to visit the jail too if I go.

We took the train from Padang. It left exactly on time at 7:15. After about an hour, we arrived in her hometown.

Kereta Api station in Paoeh Kambar, Pariaman

The women in her family have been midway cooking their malamang. As they said, they have started preparing it at 5:30am, and almost every household is doing the same. These lamang, they said, are not for personal consumption, and normally, this is not even an event where they invite people. They are preparing this for their relatives from other villages.

In the afternoon, we were brought to the mosque. Inside the mosque are plenty of stands, all topped with (several) cakes, fruits, chips, crackers, candies, and all other things. Our friend said, newly weds of the village have to setup and fill a stand with food, which, at about past 5 in the afternoon, everyone in the village will come together to consume. Unfortunately, we could not make it to the time of the ritual/festival as the train back to padang leaves before 5. :-(