Investigation of Meaningful Ornaments on Terengganu Boats

Abstract

Historically, Terengganu boats are one of the best creations for Terengganu arts and traditions. Terengganu is surrounded by the water either from the lake, rivers, or sea. The community living in the area of rivers or along the beach use boats as their main transportation. They use boats for trading activities, fishing, or to move from one village to another village. The study aimed to explore and identify the application of traditional woodcarvings and decorated elements on a boat especially in Terengganu. Traditional wood carving is one of the classic traditions of Terengganu and it is a part of the Malay culture. The objectives are to identify the types of traditional wood carving and decorated elements on boats that have the symbolic interpretation and the philosophy of the motifs on its wood carving. The most important purpose is to collect samples and leftover treasures and tradition particularly in the collection of motifs and the implicit message behind each artwork. Traditional boats were observed through a significant change; especially in terms of design where wood carvings no longer apply. The collected motifs were shown to be an effective way of documenting the national treasure of wood carving in each creation of art before its extinction. There was a variety of wood carving that carried their own identity either in terms of design, motif, themes, functions, or making process. The knowledge of wood carving as ornaments on Terengganu boats should be preserved to educate future generations.