The Syair is a riveting account of Muharram commemorations in #Singapore in 1864 – the last year Muharram processions were permitted before the colonial authorities banned them. For an image of Muharram in late colonial Singapore, here's a glimpse: Schlitter, 1858. pic.twitter.com/vt9x5b0xui

— David Lunn (@DJLdistraction) October 31, 2018

.@juliasbyl and I also published a (rather long) analysis of the Syair, looking into the court cases that emerged from the "Muharram riots" that year, the music, and the many rich details in the poem – that article also seems to be open access! https://t.co/PIxcAtY0nb

— David Lunn (@DJLdistraction) October 31, 2018

The Syair itself is a #Jawi-script scroll that lay unexamined in @ubleiden for over 150 years – here's a sense of the beautiful lithographed opening, and the messy, manuscript end: pic.twitter.com/lE33YSeAA1

— David Lunn (@DJLdistraction) October 31, 2018

Anyway, open access, for who knows how long: I hope people will enjoy at least the Syair, and for a sense of some of the most colourful aspects, check out the Muharram Scroll, from c. 1840s Madras Presidency, now in the collections of @acm_sg pic.twitter.com/ua8rfOBkld

— David Lunn (@DJLdistraction) October 31, 2018

And (finally? maybe) it was the wonderful @michaeltalbotuk who directed me to the map collections of the @UkNatArchives – who knew (apart from real historians) that such gems existed? The snippet below was crucial in reconstructing 19thC Singapore geography. pic.twitter.com/YANiWA4vUJ

— David Lunn (@DJLdistraction) October 31, 2018

And that an entire facsimile of the Syair Tabut scroll is available to download from the @IndonesiaMalayW site https://t.co/qgk96vAodJ

— David Lunn (@DJLdistraction) October 31, 2018