Wednesday 8 June 2011

a Peranakan treasure found in Singapore!

On my recent visit to The Intan, we were shown the beautiful bead work and embroidery done by the Pernanakan people ... or the Nyonya.

The Nyonya/ Nyonyas are actually the women in the Peranakan community. However, in Singapore, the term Nyonya (also sometimes spelled as Nonya) are loosely used to resemble the Peranakan community in general.

Traditionally, the Nyonyas spent most of their time at home, learning domestic arts from their elders and are trained in sewing, beadwork and embroidery from an early, perhaps around twelve. Then by the time that a Nonya is of a suitable age to get married, she would have perfected the skills of beadwork and embroidery.
 
Thus, this results in a delicious Peranakan cuisine and costumes that involves hours of beadwork and embroidery.

Some of what we saw at The Intan last week is shown in the following images:

 





 We were invited to learn about the history, traditions & lifestyle of the Peranakans by 
Alvin Yapp and ContactSingapore


Please check The Intan website and learn a little about Singapore's first private Peranakan home museum 
for yourself.


my first blog post on my visit was of the 

and the second blog post was about the beautiful 
Peranakan Treasures that Alvin has on display


 I would like to thank Alvin and ContactSingapore for a very pleasant afternoon at The Intan!


No comments: