balancing gebogan

balancing gebogan

on top of their heads, parading

to the odalan 

The third odalan today is the largest, held at a village pura desa to celebrate the anniversary of the temple. Graceful young women keep filing in, bearing gebogan or banten tegeh, tall offerings. This is not an easy feat, as the offerings are not only tall but heavy, and the women use only one hand to keep the edifice balanced on top of their heads. Ida Ayu directs them where to place the one-meter-high offerings on the central bale, where incense sticks are placed in the gebogan. I am amazed at the amount, size, shape, color and variety of items in the offerings. It's like watching a homecoming parade, each "float" a work of art. Robin tells me that these gebogan can take weeks to make. Each one can cost 500,000 Rp, depending on the ingredients, which much be the finest. 

The tukang banten, usually elderly women belonging to the Brahman caste, collect the ingredients, put them together and ritually purify them. They start with a soft banana trunk placed on a wooden dulang or metal bokor. The ingredients, pinned to the trunk with bamboo skewers, vary widely, but may include fruit such as banana, apple, pear, mandarin or salak, rice crackers, sweet cakes, flowers, grated coconut, roasted peanuts, rice pyramids or cooked chicken. Sampian, plaited coconut leaves, decorate the top. One woman at this odalan has brought a gebogan made of a pile of batik cloth, folded and stacked high. 

A procession of priests dressed in white sangkul putih comes around, carrying sheaves and trays and sprinkling tirtha from narrow glass bottles with tapered metal spouts. To me, these holy water dispensers look like the bottles for oil and vinegar at restaurants back home. The pemangku bless the participants and the gebogan with the tirtha. After the gods have enjoyed the essence of the gebogan, the family will enjoy the offerings at home.

The whole celebration is extremely beautiful and colorful, with everyone dressed in their finest, all the buildings elaborately decorated and piled with mounds of gebogan. The purpose of all this beauty and delicious food is to please the many different gods who have been invited to come from the holy mountain to the temple. Pak Win tells me that the word banten may come from the Sanskrit word bali, which means tribute, obligation or gift. Or it may be derived from enten, which means to wake up or be conscious. An offering is a conscious awareness of the gods. He says offerings also have the purpose of binding communities together. The constant stream of celebrations certainly brings people together to feel the joy of giving gifts to the gods and to enjoy each other's company, surrounded by beauty, music and entertainment.

at an odalan

at an odalan

Pak Win, a red hibiscus 

tucked in his udeng 

I am watching all the activities taking place at an odalan, a village temple ceremony where many elaborate banten offerings are being made. A man just went by carrying a long pole over his shoulder with two ducks in little wicker baskets on either end, just their heads sticking out. He hangs them up in a low tree and Made's son is teasing them, making them snap at his hand and sway in their baskets. I ate a little duck today because Made served me. She is like a friendly St. Bernard. Pak Win shows up and sits with me. I have just read his article on Balinese ceremonies, in which he says that they sacrifice all kinds of animals, the most common being chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and dogs, especially brown ones with a black muzzle. I am glad I have not seen anyone carrying a dog today. Pak Win is pleased that I am reading his many articles on Balinese culture. He explains that he is wearing his "costume": a black and white checkered udeng on his head with a red hibiscus tucked into the elaborate knot in front, a black kain with a black and white checkered overskirt, and a gray shirt. The black and white checkers symbolize a balance of light and dark, good and evil, gray is the area in between and red is for the heart. He asks me when I am leaving and says it's good to leave soon because of the political situation with the blind, crazy president being impeached. Then he asks me who was the best American president. "Lincoln," I reply, "because of his stand on freeing the slaves and because he was a wise man who believed that if you don't like someone it's because you don't know that person well enough." Robin shows up and asks Pak Win why he has such a long thumb nail. "It means an intellectual, an artist, nobility, one who doesn't dig ditches," he explains. "Maybe you should have a garden," Robin teases, "for balance." Pak Win grins and replies, "I have a mental garden."