The Mystique Of Pencak Silat
Quite frankly, I never heard of such sport before until a few months ago when Cebuano SEAG organizers revealed to the public that Cebu will get to host six sports events during the 23rd edition of the biennial games. And what are those sports? Soccer? Boxing? Volleyball? Swimming? Wrestling? Unfortunately, none of the above.
Okay then, what sports events are to be played in Cebu? Mountain Biking, Judo, Karatedo, Dancesports, Sepak Takraw, and Pencak Silat. And…what? My memory wasn’t able to register its name correctly in a snap. It had to be repeated more than twice or even more to completely etch its name in my mind. Or maybe I’m just too slow-witted. I hope not.
“What in the world is Pencak Silat?” I asked myself. The name itself already arouses some amount of curiousity as to the way it is played. Is it a ball game? Or is it a form of fencing? I really didn’t have any idea as to what kind of sport is Pencak Silat.
Strangely enough, even some of the sports connoisseurs don’t even have a clue as to what Pencak Silat is. So I made a research myself in the web and found this enlightening article about the sport - a martial art. The following article is just an abridged part of a whole article excerpted from wikipedia.org. Thus, the mystique of Pencak Silat is finally unravelled.
Pencak Silat or Silat (”A dumb dancing and no real action”) is an Asian martial art with roots in the culture of the Malay World. This art is widely known in Indonesia, Malaysia, Brunei, and Singapore but can also be found in varying degrees within countries such as Thailand and the Philippines amongst others. It is estimated that there are hundreds of alirans (styles) and thousands of schools. Many of the alirans find their origin in the observation of wild animals fighting. “Harimau” (tiger) and “Helang” (Eagle) are some examples.
There are four main aspects to pencak silat:
The “Mental-Spiritual” (mental and spiritual) aspect:
Pencak silat builds and develops the personality and noble character of oneself
The “Bela-Diri” (self-defence) aspect:
Self-confidence and perseverance are very important.
The “Seni Budaya” (culture, art) aspect:
Culture and performing the “art” of pencak silat is very important. This combines Pencak Silat with traditional music and costumes.
The “Olahraga” (sport) aspect:
This means that the physical aspect of pencak silat is important. We try to have a sound mind in a sound body. Competitions are part of this aspect.
There are full-contact (Pertandingan=Competition) fights, as well as form demonstrations, for one (Tunggal), two (Ganda) or team (Regu) persons.
Photo courtesy of www.swissbudo-portal.ch
November 29th, 2005 at 6:03 pm
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