KRISTANG HERITAGE OF THE PORTUGUESE SETTLEMENT
Text and Photos by Jasmyn Tan
The Portuguese Settlement, or being known as Mini Lisbon is an area of Ujong Pasir in, Malacca, Malaysia, which serves as a home for the Kristang people. The Kristang community is a Malaysian ethnic group with mixed Portuguese and Malay heritage, when the city was a port and base of Portuguese colonial. The Portuguese settlement in Ujong Pasir, Melaka, has been home to the community since the 16th and 17th century.
When the Portuguese conquered Malacca, a numerous number of its soldiers married the local women and
made Malacca their new home. They live along the coast as fishermen. Besides Bahasa Malaysia and English, Kristangs speak a unique creole language based on Portuguese. Streets in Portuguese Settlement are mostly given name based on the Kristangs’ surnames such as Jalan D’ Aranjo, D’ Albuquerque, Sequera, Eredia, Texeria, Day, Theseira and more. Streets to streets are very near and the people usually will either walk or ride a bike from one place to another.
At its heart is the Portuguese Square (Medan Portugis), which comprises a courtyard with a number of seafood restaurants, a couple of bars and a small museum.
They are devout Catholics and they have strived to maintain some of their traditions such as food, costume and dance. Once a year, on 29th June, they
celebrate the Feast of Saint Pedro with dancing, music and banquets. Besides, Christmas is the other main occasion
when the residents are up to. This draws large numbers of visitors. Once in a year, residents in Portuguese Settlement will decorate their houses with Christmas Tree and colourful lights to express their excited feelings and love for Christmas. This draws large numbers of visitors.
They will never miss the opportunities to enjoy Christmas celebration with their beloved ones. Children or other family members that are working or studying in other places will come back and prepare for the festival. As other festival, reunion is one of the cultures that should not be forgotten. Family members, friends and neighbour who might have lost contact for more than a year with each other will finally gather and reunited.
Normally, settlements’ senior woman are the most busiest persons to prepare the scrumptious Portuguese traditional food such as kari debal or known as “devil’s curry”.
