December/January, 1998
No. 032/VI/97
cover story
Christians in
Paradise
How Christianity came
to Bali
Once Upon a
New Years Eve
MC-ing a New Year's
Eve party during a
blackout
bali focus:
nusa dua and
jimbaran
The Origin of
Nusa Dua
A fable
People of a
Fertile Sea
The fishers of
Jimbaran beach
Center Stage
Steve Charles revamps
the Candraloka
Amphitheatre
Nusa Dua Nights
How to survive them
The Sacred
Wilderness
Colonial encounters with
Bali's southern peninsula
arts and
culture
Latter Day
Laksamana
A.A.M. Djelantik's
recently launched
autobiography
new Fiction by Gde
Aryantha Soethama
The Rat Pack
Who are Bali's literati?
beyond
bali
An Eddy in The
Counter of Time
Kayaking off the west
coast of Lombok
Slick and Cool in
Sengigi
Round midnight at the
famed Lombok resort
regular
Fashion
Adventure
Into the blue
Food
Jewel of the southren rim
Jungle Drums
Bali Update
On the Road
Home Grown
Made Adi Putra
advertising index for
Bali Echo web site
 |
On that day, the sky was clear. The weather this June had been cooler and fresher than previous years. People gathered in the village hall mid- morning. It was no longer an issue of the death knell, but something deeper and more basic: that of cuntaka, and the significance of mourning in traditional rites and religious ceremonies. That's why they all came to the village hall to vote on this all-important matter.
Nengah Endek wore a fine batik hat, his shirt and sarong emitted the pleasant scent of clothes long kept folded in a wardrobe. His face was beaming confidence, as he was sure he was going to vanquish Songket. He had already approached the village elders, and Songket was to be finished with.
Before going to the village hall, Endek stopped off at the house of Guru Sambat, an old and very influential figure in our village. He wanted to secure Sambat's support for his party, to guarantee his election victory.
But he never got that support. As he came through the gate of Guru Sambat's house, Endek was surprised to see many people there, busy making offerings. Ignoring the greetings people called to him as he passed, he made straight for the kitchen, where he found Guru Sambat's wife.
"What are all these people doing here?"
"Don't you know?" asked Guru Sambat's wife, puzzled at Endek's dumfoundedness.
"Know what? What's wrong?"
"Guru.... Guru is dead."
"Dead? Since when?"
"Yesterday morning. That's strange, how could you not know?"
Endek quickly made for to the eastern part of the house, where Guru Sambat's body had been laid out. He couldn't stop shaking his head, and blinking his eyes. His face was wrapped in confusion.
"Why was I not told?" he lamented over and over again. His emotions bubbled up. He began to cry.
With swollen eyes Endek ran to the village hall. Paying no mind to the people who were casting their votes there, he climbed up the tower where our village's sacred kulkul hung. Taking a baton, he struck the kulkul. With a plodding, cautious beat, the death of Guru Sambat was announced.
Everyone in the village hall was confounded by the sound of the kulkul . The women making offerings in the village temple stopped their work, exchanging baffled looks. Yet the meaning of the knell is clear - it marks the beginning of cuntaka in our village, and that meant that the piodalan to be held at the village temple in three days time would have to be be canceled. The long, tiring and expensive preparations had all been in vain, and the planned five nights of theatre and dancing was no longer to be.
 |
Copyright © 1997 Bali Echo. All
Rights Reserved