Saturday night we listened to Banyar Taman Sanur’s gamelon practice until one of the members, Ida, invited us to come see their performance the next day. It turned out, they were playing at a cremation ceremony.
Again, Pete and I had to dress in traditional sarongs to see the ceremony (the Balinese men found it hilarious to see Pete in traditional clothes…so again he was the butt of another Indonesian joke.) We hitched a ride with the orchestra, whom we met at the Banyar in the afternoon.
The ceremony was for a priest who had passed away a few days prior (for clarification, the term priest in Balinese is slightly different than the term ‘priest’ as Westerners know it. Balinese refer to these people as brahman priests or of the brahmana or priestly caste which is the highest caste). Since this was a ceremony for the highest caste, only other priests were allowed to touch the body and prepare the offerings for the deceased. Although the priest had requested a small ceremony for his cremation, because of his status, everything was very elaborate and traditional (the priest had also predicted the timing of his death, right before the full moon).
The ceremony began with the gathering of about 6 or 7 other high priests who were to perform the cleansing rituals and prepare the offerings. They then led everyone in a prayer and the body (wrapped in white cloth because he was married…yellow is for the unmarried) was brought out onto a platform in the center of his home. Everyone there gathered around this platform, all trying to get a glimpse or photo of the priest.
Only the male family members were allowed to directly surround the platform, and they helped the priests in the wrapping and unwrapping of the body. The body was then washed in holy water and elaborately decorated with offerings of flowers, banana leaves, and cloth. The priest presiding over the ceremony also washed his hair and tied it up in the priestly fashion…a small bun or knot on the top of his head decorated with an offering. Those surrounding the body chanted/sang throughout the process and many women cried a bit. The mood though, was not somber; the decorations and dress were bright and colorful.
After all the offerings had been presented, the male family members wrapped the body back up and placed it in the coffin-type box (unlike a coffin, it was brightly decorated and placed in a sacred spot in the house surrounded by offerings until April 10, when the actual cremation will take place). Following this there was a short prayer and then a meal was provided for everyone in attendance.
We both agreed that this was one of the most amazing cultural experiences we’ve ever witnessed. The cremation ceremony here was, as you can tell, vastly different then what we are used to in the US. In fact, a few people asked us what a funeral is like where we come from. We could sum it up by saying in America a funeral is the complete opposite of what we had seen. For Pete, this was the first time he’d ever seen a deceased person so this added another level to the ceremony.
We were the only two Caucasians there, which, to no surprise, was not a problem at all. Despite a couple looks here and there, everyone was extremely friendly and hospitable towards us (a common theme amongst the Balinese). During the ceremony this girl struck up a conversation with us and provided commentary on what was going on. She also introduced us to many of her relatives and took us to her house next door and generally showed us around during the 4 hour ceremony. As the member of the gamelon orchestra who brought us there mentioned, you spend 5 minutes among the Balinese and you have 100 new friends. This couldn’t be any truer.
In the early evening we went back home to relax for an hour before meeting our friend Trevor for a couple drinks for our last night out in Bali – before we head to Thailand first thing Tuesday morning!!
Priest performing offerings
Priest performing offerings
Priest at the platform
No comments:
Post a Comment