Famous Traditional Sports

     Malaysia is very well-known for its traditional sports. One of Malaysia's most popular traditional sport is wau. A wau is a traditional Malay kite and is traditionally flown by the men of Kelantan. There are many types of wau such as wau kucing, wau kikik, wau helang and many more but the most popular form of this kite is the 'wau bulan' which directly translates to moon kite.

Wau bulan

     Wau bulan got its name from the crescent moon-like shape of its lower section. Given the right colour, wau bulan apparently resembles a rising crescent moon when flown. The size of this kite is bigger than any other traditional Malay kites and is 2.5 metres is width and 3.5 metres in length. This wau is also featured on the 50 sen Malaysian coin. The logo of Malaysian Airlines (MAS) is also based on this very kite.
     Wau can be used for kite-fighting where the players cut the strings of other players by coating the string of their waus with glass powder. Although skills are important in maneuvering the wau, the wind condition also influences the playing of the game.




     Another well-known traditional sport is Malaysia is congkak. Congkak is a mancala game of Malay origin played in Malaysia. This game is mostly played by girls and has simple rules that allows the board to have different number of holes. Congkak boards are often made of teak or mahogany wood. The word congkak is believed to originate from an old Malay word, 'congak', which means 'mental calculation' and is mainly practiced in this game. An efficient player mentally calculates a few steps ahead of the opponent to win this game.

Types of congkak boards with seven holes

     The congkak board has fourteen holes with seven holes on each side of the board. Each player controls the seven holes on their side and their score is the number of seeds in their left-hand side store. Player take turns moving the seeds except in the first turn which is performed simultaneously. After this first simultaneous  movement, once the first seed falls into an empty hole, the players' first turn is over. On a turn, a player chooses one of the seven holes they control and distribute all the seeds into every hole in a clockwise motion placing one seed in each hole. They must skip the opponent's store but does not skip his/her own store. This process is called sowing.

     If the last seed falls into an occupied hole, they must continue sowing from that hole. If the last seed falls into his/her store, they immediately gain another turn, which can begin at any of the seven holes they control. The game ends when the player has no seeds in his/her holes at the start of a turn. The remaining seeds are awarded to the opponent. The objective of this game is to capture more seeds than their opponent.