RITES
AND FESTIVALS
SOCIETY
AND RELIGION
Serious
babies in silks and gold necklaces also kneeled, repeating
evey gesture of their elders. Outside the temple the crowd
gathered listening to the stately music of the gong or watching
a show. Sometimes the men staged cockfights (also a part
of the ritual) or flirted with the vendors.
In a quiet corner an old pemangku proceeded to imbue with
the spirits of the local deities the temple artjas, a pair
of beautifully carved little statues, male and female, of
painted and gilt sandalwood. They were usually locked into
the central shrine wrapped in many cloths and kept in a
special basket, but they were taken out on the day of their
feast and made " alive." While an old man chanted the
ancient song Sinom Surakarta, the old pemangku recited a
special prayer of invitation to lure the deities to occupy
the artjas so that in this more tangible form they would
preside over the feast in their honour, be taken out in
procession, and in general serve as a point f sight towards
which the ceremony was directed.
The gamelan angklung played outside the temple while the
people began to form for the great procession to take the
gods for a symbolical bath (melis or makies) to the nearest
big river. The march started, headed by many bearers of
flags, pennants. and spears, followed by a long line of
girls, their torsos wrapped in silk scarfs of yellow, green,
and magenta, marching in single file with the offerings
and pots of holy water on their heads. Then came the little
statuettes of the gods, decorated for the occasion with
fresh flowers, carried on cushions on the heads of a group
of picked girls and shaded by three-staged umbrella, of
state.
Older
women followed, also carrying offerings, and the procession
was closed by the group of men and the orchestra which played
an obstinate marching rhythm on the gongs. The correct thing
would have been to take the gods to the seashore, but Kengetan
was far inland and there it was customary to L' to the river
for melis.
In
Den Pasar, on the occasion of the great feast of the temple
Taman Badung, from a height I saw a great procession over
a mile long, a fact verified by the mileage posts on the
road, a fantastic spectacle in the late afternoon sun, preceded
by hundreds of fluttering flags and tall pennants, white
umbrellas, and spears, moving slowly towards the sea to
the accompaniment of gongs. On arrival at the beach in Kuta,
after a walk of five miles, the artjas received offerings,
the priests prayed towards them, and the people sang songs
of praise and danced mendet to entertain the gods, returning
at dusk to continue the feast through the night.
In Kengetan it was already dark when the procession returned
to the temple, its arrival greeted with exploding firecrackers
and clattering kulkuls, while the orchestras played furiously
all at the same time. The parade stopped at the temple gate
in front of the pemangku, who waited, seated in front of
a mat spread with offerings. He proceeded to welcome the
artjas, once more addressing a prayer to them, ringing his
bell, and offering rice, money, eggs, and wine, decapitating
a little chicken to spill the blood on the ground.
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