|
|
|
Transitional Events
Throughout a child's life various rituals are performed on propitious dates chosen with great care. Some life-cycle ceremonies take place even before birth: for example, a ceremony is held to appease evil spirits as soon as it's learned a woman is pregnant. This is designed to ensure the child's good health and well-being. A father may be prohibited from killing animals or cutting his hair until the child is safely born. When the umbilical cord falls off, another purification ceremony takes place, and yet a third when the child is named three months after birth. The latter ceremony is called 'nelubulanin'. A puppet shadow play may be staged, and at the end of the performance the child sprinkled with holy water and the name announced by the 'dalang'. The afterbirth (ari-ari), which protects a person from sickness throughout entire life, is buried by the doorway of the house in a coconut shell. For 42 days after birth the mother is considered unclean (kesebelan) and ritual actions must be undertaken to purify her. Twelve days after birth, offerings are made at home; additional offerings are taken to a 'balian', consulted to determine who's been reincarnated in the new infant. Preferably the 'balian' is unknown to the family, avoiding the possibility of cheating with foreknowledge of family history. The 'balian' goes into trance and speaks with the voice (or voices) of the person(s) who inhabit the infant. The spirits state why they've chosen to come back and announce any conditions attached. The birth of boy and girl twins is considered a calamity, an evil omen. It's thought the twins have committed incest in the womb, and rigorous purification ceremonies are required. Traditionally, they should be separated at birth, brought up by different families, and married to one another when they come of age. Since the Balinese detest actions characteristic of animals, children are not allowed to crawl. An infant may not even touch the impure soil until the age of three months, carried everywhere on the hip of a parent or older brother or sister. It is believed the earth is too strong to risk the vulnerable infant coming into contact with it. At 105 days old, the child is bedecked with gold and silver bracelets on wrists and ankles, and an elaborate ceremony is performed as the infant first makes contact with the earth. At this time, the personalities of the previous owners of the child's soul are supposed to remove themselves to allow the new being to continue life unencumbered by memories of what went before. For a child's first birthday-at 210 days, the length of a Balinese year-a small banquet is arranged and a Brahman priest blesses the child, rings bells, sprinkles holy water, recites Kawi litanies, and places small offerings before Sanghyang Rare Kumara, the god of small children. This rite is considered so critical to the child's future well-being that poorer families often pitch in to share the high costs. At this time, the child receives a magic name, held secret from the personal name uttered in daily use. From then on, the child is considered an adult. Once able to walk, a child falls into the care of other children, allowed to roam freely through the village in small, self-sufficient kid republics. A girl's first menstruation (nyacal) is an important rite of passage. Since she is believed unclean (sebel), she enters into partial seclusion until the day when her period is at an end, emerging in gold brocades, jewels, and flowers. A 'pedanda' performs the purification blessing and recites magic prayers (maweda). Only one major ritual remains, the filing of teeth - a sort of Balinese bar mitzvah, the passage into puberty-celebrated by both males and females. |
|
| Copyright © 2012, Bali-Island.com Indonesia |