June/July, 1998
No. 035/VI/98
cover story
After The Boom
What future is there for
Bali's modern theatre
scene?
Warung Society
Bali has its own history of
communal philosophising
and coffee-drinking
Renaissance
Twenty years of Bali's
Festival of the Arts
beyond
bali
Sumbawa's
Secrets
Photographs from
Kuang Amo
regular
features
Orchestrating a
cremation in Ubud
Home Grown
A preview of
the Quicksilver Pro
Adventure
Getting over a fear
of diving
Health and Beauty
Foreign aid for
optic
health
Books
The Painted Alphabet
reviewed
Food
Two boutique hotels,
two top chefs
Fiction
'Our Moon'
by Mas Ruscitadewi
advertising index for
Bali Echo web site
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Only when she
took part in a royal cremation ceremony last year did Kadek Susilawati become aware of the
countless tiny, yet indispensible rituals that lead up to the main event. These rituals,
she found, are fraught with the threat of black magic, and their failure means that of the
entire ceremony.
Balinese ceremonies mark the transitions of human life, deepen spiritual
dimensions, and perpetuate mythologies. They also fascinate foreign visitors. Cremations
are probably the most popular, and their program and proceedings are already well known.
Or are they? The lesser-known, peripheral ceremonies that lead up to a cremation are as
interesting, and more laden with symbolic and sacred ritual than the puncak karya or main
event itself - meaning the big bonfire part. In a major ceremony, a karya agung, every
aspect of preparation ascends to the level of ritual. Which aspect is a ceremony in its
own right? Is it all one, long ceremony? Perhaps all life itself is an elaborate ritual?
Last year one of the oldest princes in our town died, the last of his generation. We spent the days leading up to the cremation - months, in fact - involved in a series of ceremonies, and long nights playing cards and talking in the palace next to the bale where the body was laid in state, as ancient lontar texts were sung in a nearby pavilion. During this time, the round of rituals to see the deceased on his way were almost constant. I encouraged members of the palace family, anonymously quoted below, to share their reflections, as I observed the slow unfolding of this great rite.
"When someone dies, the responsible person must decide in three days what kind of cremation they will have. Whether the body will be kept in the house, and all of the formalities done, or whether a simple thing will be done instead. If the community thinks the family can’t do the ceremonies properly, the community takes the body. If the spirit is not smoothly transferred, the whole community will be bothered by it. Sometimes the responsible person decides right away to have the community handle things."
In the case of this prince’s cremation, the family wanted to handle everything, but there was some conflict. The main palace was worried; if any aspect was lacking, it would not reflect well on the Royal Family, and so bring disrespect. They insisted that the main palace take over. The body was moved, and there was a pervasive sense of tension as a result.
"When my own grandfather died, he wanted to have his body kept in our palace, but the main palace asked to hold the ceremonies there. He was a stubborn man. They actually called a balian (shaman) to ask the ancestral spirit(s) where the body should be and who should co-ordinate the cremation. It stayed in our palace.
The preparations for a big cremation take a long time, and the body stays in the house for months. It is expensive having the body for a long time, because everyone who comes to visit or to help must be fed and offered drink. The people in the community who are expected to help in preparations during this time are noted. They all give a certain amount of coconuts, rice, sometimes coffee and sugar and pigs If someone is annoyed that a person does not help or contribute enough, they send them a gift of food; rice and things. That is almost like an insult. It means, why don’t you participate?
For important guests there are invitations in the form of satay sticks. They are presented in your house, by workers from the palace. A certain kind of satay and a certain number of sticks are used. If you are brought one of these, you must come. There are twelve-stick invitations, twenty-one-stick, and others. The satay invitations must be given to certain people. There is a complicated list that also tells what kind of invitation goes to which house, based on who the people are who live there, how many sons they have and other things. Somebody has to keep all of this information. I think Raka is putting it on a computer."
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