Gift for Gods, Ancestors, and Demons
The many unseen inhabitants o
f Bali – gods, ancestors, and
demons – are treated by the Balinese as honored guests through the daily
presentation of offerings (banten ) of every imaginable
shape, color ,and substance . These are first
and foremost
gifts expressing gratitude
to benevolent spirits ,and placating mischievous demons to prevent them from
disturbing the harmony of life.
Simple offerings are presented daily as a matter of course,
while more elaborate ones are specially produced for specific ritual. After the
daily food is prepared , for example, tiny packets are presented to the
resident gods of the household before
the family eats. Every day , too ,the spirits are presented with tiny
canang ,palm leaf trays containing
flowers and betel as a token of hospitality.
Being gifts to higher beings , these offerings
must be attractive ,and great deals of time
and effort is expended to make them so. Leaves are laboriously cut ,plaited and
pinned together into decorative shapes ( jejaitan ) .Multi-colored rice flour
cookies ( jajan ) are modeled into tine sculptures and even into entire scenes
,which have a deep symbolic significance quite apart from their decorative
function. In many ways , therefore
, the
production of offerings may be regarded as an important traditional art form
that still flourishes on
Bali
Materials and preparation
Aside from a few durable element employed , such as coins
cloth and an occasional wooden mask, offerings
are generally fashioned of perishable , organic materials. Not only the
materials , but be used again and similar ones must be produced again and again
every day .
The preparation of offerings is one the many tasks
undertaken by every Balinese woman.Within the household , women of several
generations work together , and in this way knowledge and skill are handed down
to the young . To a limited extent , men also cooperate ; it is their task to
slaughter animals and prepare most meat offerings.
Many women in Bali even make a living by acting as offering
specialists ( tukang banten ). Their main task is to direct the armies of
people who collectively produce offerings for large rituals at home or in the
communal temple. They are able to coordinate this work because they know the
type and ingredients of offerings required for each accasion.
As more and more Balinese women work outside the home in
office or tourist hotels ,they have less time to undertake elaborate ritual
preparations .This result in an increasing demand for ready –made offerings
that many tukang banten produce in their own home , in spite of this
commercialization , the meaning and ritual use of offerings is not diminishing
in Bali.
Ritual Uses
For almost any ritual ,the enormous number and variety of
offerings required is quite astounding. There are literally hundreds of
different kinds ,the names ,forms sizes ,and ingredients of which differ
greatly .There is also considerable variation from region to region, and even
from village to village .The basic form of most offerings is quite similar
,however .Rice , fruits ,cookies , meat , and vegetables are arranged on a palm
leaf base and crowned with a palm leaf decoration called a sampian
,which serves also as a container for
betel and flowers.
Certain offerings are used in many rituals ,whereas others
are specific to a particular ceremony . Basic offerings form groups ( soroh )
around a core offering ,and since most rituals can be performed with varying
degrees of elaboration ,depending upon the occasion and the means and social
status of the participants ,the size and content of these offering groups vary also according to the
elaborateness of the ritual.
The size of an offering may be scaled up or down to match
the occasion. For example ,an ordinary pulagembal contains ,among other things
,dozens of different rice dough figures in a palm leaf basket. In more
elaborate rituals , this becomes spectacular construction of brightly colored
cookies ,measuring several meters from top to bottom.
Besides the major
communal offerings associated with a particular ritual , each family brings its
own large and colorful offering to a temple festival. It is a spectacular sight
when women of a neighborhood together carry offerings in procession to a
temple.
At the temple , offerings are placed according to their
destination and function .Offerings to gods and ancestors are placed on high
altars ,whereas demons receive theirs on
the ground .An important differences is that offerings to demons may contains
raw meat ,while those for the gods and ancestors may not. Specific offering
required for ritual are placed in a pavilion temporary platform .
During the ceremony ,a priest purifies the offerings by
sprinkling them with holy water and intoning prayers or mantras .The smoke of incense then wafts
the essence of the offerings to their intended destination . The daily
presentation of offerings at home takes place in a similar way, through the use
of holy water and fire .After the ritual is over and their “essence “ has been
consumed , the offerings may be taken
home and eaten my the worshippers.
Symbolism
The elements that make life on earth possible are
transformed into offerings and thus returned as gifts to their original Creator
. But an offerings not only consists of the fruits of the earth ,but also
mirrors its essential structure ; decorative motifs often symbolize the various
constituents of the Balinese universe . The colors and numbers of flowers and
other ingredients refer to deities who
guard the cardinal direction . The requisite betel on top of every offerings
symbolizes the Hindu Trinity , as do the
three basic colors used : red for Brahma ,Black or Green for Wisnu ,and White
for Siva.
Conical shape , whether of offerings as a whole or of the rice used in it ,are models of the cosmic mountain whose central axis links the underworld , the middle world ,and the upper world ,symbolic of cosmic totality and the source
of life on earth .Rice dough cookies represent the contents of the world :
plants , animals, people , building , or even little market scenes and gardens
,Pairs of such cookies ,like the sun and moon
,the mountain and sea ,the earth
and sky ,symbolize the dual ordering of the cosmos in which
complementary elements cannot exist without one another.
The unity of male and female ,necessary for the production
of new life , is in many ways represented
in the composition of offerings . By recreating the universe through the
art and medium of offerings , the
Balinese hope that the continuity of life on the earth will be assured.
By Francine Brinkgreve
