Crafts

CRAFTS. Unlike painting and woodcarving much of the production of which is stimulated by a foreign market, the traditional crafts of Bali serve no other purpose than to provide beauty for the grand occasions and holidays so anticipated by the people.

The Balinese love to dress up in high fashion when attending temple festivals. Women put on their finest jewels, deck their hair with flowers of beaten gold, and wrap themselves in rich, gold-spun materials. Men come crowned in a head-cloth of brocade with a corner cocked high above the forehead. Even tiny babies follow the current fads-a baseball cap, woolen knee socks, knitted boots, a T-shirt with A Go-Go" written on it, and golden flowers for girls which are dutifully tied around the head if the hair is not yet long enough. Dressing stylishly is not only a sign of respect, but also one of social prestige. During temple ceremonies, you can always tell a noblewoman by glancing at the underskirt which hangs just below her sarong. If she is of a wealthy family, hers will be a train of silk and gold.

Klungkung and Karangasern in East Bali are famous for these silk brocades, patterned with interweaving threads of gold and silver. Often their makers' let the imagination guide the hand, resulting in gorgeous tapestries of wayang figures, birds and butterflies. One of the rarest kinds of weaving in the world is the art of the women of Tenganan, an ultra conservative village in East Bali . Here a woman may work for years to fashion one piece of gringsing, or "flaming cloth". The technique she uses is an ancient one called ikat, "to bind". By carefully binding the threads and then dyeing them, she creates a pattern which will later become a finished design. ikat of the warp, or ikat of the weft are weaving techniques common to Indonesia, but the difficult "double" ikat, where all the threads are dyed in patterns prior to weaving, is found nowhere else in the country but this one village.

Besides the art of weaving, the Balinese also make a lustrous gift cloth, kain prada, for rituals and dramas. On the village stage, both queens and clowns alike wear brigtly colored silks with glittering patterns of gold leaf -the. Principal motif being the lotus flower.

When a dignified nobleman dresses up for a ceremony, whether it be his marriage or his tooth-filing, he is never without his kris, the traditional dagger of Indonesia . In the past, a man's kris was his most important accessory. It symbolized his family and himself as an individual. Covarrubias tells of an old custom whereby a prince marrying a woman of lower caste sent his kris to the ceremony to represent his presence during the wedding! The eyes of storytellers widen in terror when the relate stories of magic krisses powerful enough to destroy a man when pointed at him.

True, the economic status of a man was determined by the richness of his kris and a good part of his fortune was invested in the gold and jewels adorning it. Metal smiths labored many a month to perfect the ruby-studded golden demon that formed the kris handle of a king. Sheaths of royal krisses were of the finest polished wood, covered with hammered gold and silver, and topped with a cross-piece of ivory. Sheaths not only protected the kris from external damage (physical or psychic), but insulated its powerful vibrations as well, lest it brought harm to one who ventured too near.

Of all parts of a kris the blade is most sacred. Handle and sheath may be pawned by an owner if in need, but the blade is cherished as an important family heirloom. Kris blades are straight and simple at times, yet often are shaped in vicious tapering curves-a form possibly derived from the mythical serpent naga, since on some kris blades there rests a naga inlaid in gold.

In olden times, kris makers belonged to a special guild of metal smiths called pande wesi, who worshipped the fiery volcano Batur and were deemed, powerful magicians. Ancient Indonesians considered all metal magically charged and anyone who worked with it must have the art of sorcery at his disposal, otherwise there would be great risks involved. For this reason metal smiths were an elite group, regarded as aristocrats by the lower classes Even the proud Brahmanas had to speak in high Balinese as a sign of respect when addressing a smith with tools in his hands.

One of the most prominent and least recognized forms of artistry among the Balinese is heir rich and imaginative "transitory art". Who wouldn't be amazed after spending two weeks a village where everyone was rushing about prepare for a cremation, to watch all the sumptuous decorations- tower, sarcophagus, saga serpent, everything--go up in smoke is like that? The Balinese, of course. So much their, creative work is made with no thought at it should endure, but that it should only serve. Take offerings, for example. Women end hours creating lace patterns of palm leaf pyramids of fruits and flowers to show, preference to the deities during temple feasts. The offerings have been received in the temple; they are both taken home and eaten, left in heaps on the ground for hungry dogs scavenge. Even in the scattered palm leaf laments left over from a ceremony one can the exceptional taste and sense of design went into their making. It is se selfless acts of creativity which remain to the original conception of the arts-to ..life in service to one's religion and community. Of special interest are the long palm strip ...,lamaks, that hang from high altars ..temple festivals. Women create beautiful mosaics of green leaf in patterns their ..used hundreds of years before. Often designs are variations of the cili, an abstract nine figure identified with the goddess of .and fertility Dewi Sri. Scholars believe cili figure to be an ancient form native to and before Hindu times and forerunner . stylized elongation of the body. in the figurative art of Bali surprisingly enough the most influential art in Bali appears more often than not in . The flickering personalities of the wayang kulit puppet theatre are beloved by child growing up on the island, and their effect upon the Balinese imagination is tremendous. Anthropologist Jane Belo once asked a group Of Young Balinese children to make drawings and found that most of their figures ere unmistaken Puppet- inspired. It is no wonder. The same figures that dance across the screen in silhouette reappear delicately drawn in traditional cloth paintings, preside in stone over the gates of temples, are evoked by the sound of gamelan melodies and dramatically come to life in the village plays. In almost any art form one can glimpse a shadow of the shadow theatre. The strong linear trend in Balinese art, the lack of modeling in painting, and the vivid portrayals of fantastic derive from the familiarity of every Balinese with Wayang Kulit.

As the Indonesian name suggests, wayang puppets are fashioned from buffalo parchment, for wayang means "shadow" and kulit means "skin". The figures are cut with a special iron stylus into the most delicate lace and painted. (During religious occasions, Wayang Kulit may be performed in the daytime in full color, with a single string stretched before the puppeteer instead of a screen.) Since all the characters are identified by their appearance the smallest detail in costume, color and outline each has its significance. A leather smith who fashions a complete set of wayang puppets (over: 150 in all) should be commended on a superlative show of dexterous chisel-work. After all, a slip of the stylus could deform a giant.

In the casual nonchalance with which the Balinese approach their art one almost forgets the extraordinary artistic achievement that is involved in the daily routine of the community. Be it an informal rehearsal of a play, the marching rhythm of the gamelan at a procession, the mastery of a neglected temple carving, or necklaces of bone displayed in sales stands, the Balinese instill design and style in all they do. This alone makes their art unique. To assist him and it couldn't be merrier when his little daughter sprinkles holy water on the bowed heads of her playmates.

At times, the temple's gamelan sounds a rhythmic march and a procession is formed to take the deities to the ocean (or nearest large river) for a ceremonial bath. When the procession reaches the sea, the deities are entertained with music, dancing, hymns of praise, and receive many offerings before they are carried back to the temple.

At night, the temple courtyards are transformed into a county fair. Outside the towering gate is a carnival of sideshows-rows of food and candy stands, toys, balloons, and batik sales, animated card games, spinning wheel lotteries, prize contests, lively displays of sales talk by vendors selling wonder medicines, and invariably a drama performance which begins around midnight and lasts late into the morning hours. Everybody looks his best, especially the shy young girls who sell food at the warungs. (It's a custom in Bali for a girl who reaches the age of marriage to set up a food stand. Being much in the public eye, she attracts many suitors. The young man who wins her fancy, it is told, pays less.) Needless to say, girl watching wins out over the prize games as the number one attraction for the bachelors present,

Once inside the temple, the proceedings take on a more formal, mystic tone. Pemangkus and priestesses continue to chant songs of praise before shrines clouded with smoking incense. They are joined in their devotions by a group of women who rise to dance a slow round of Pendet, honoring the deities of each shrine with incense and offerings and prayers. As attendants to the festival the women may go unnoticed among other villagers, but as dancers each comes alive with exuberant individuality and grace. None of the dancers is a Professional; nor do they use costume or make-up. The dance in itself is an offering to the deities, and true to the Balinese spirit it is to pay homage to God through the beauty of motion, song and music.

During the course of these rituals, a pemangku may become possessed by a divine spirit and fall into trance, crying and shaking violently. He is calmed by a fellow priest and presented with offerings for it is believed he has been entered by a deity. When all is quiet the priest asks him questions if the ceremony pleases him, if all the offerings have been properly prepared. Trance is taken as a religious experience, a form of communication with the spiritual world. Certain men and women in every village serve the deities as established trance mediums in the temple ceremonies. Each temple has its own trance mediums who attend all the ceremonies there, and every medium has his own deity with whom he communicates during trance. Most mediums belong to a special family of trances, as do the trance dancers in the Barong and Rangda plays. But they may also be chosen by a deity who "enters" them during a trance ritual. Usually the head pemangku of a temple is a trance medium and may attend ceremonies at other temples as the spokesman for a deity.

Through a trance medium, a divine request may be made or advice given. If a person goes into trance and speaks during a ceremony, it is taken as a good sign-a divine gesture to the people that their prayers have been heard and their offerings accepted. When the message is passed on to the priest, he revives the tapakan with prayers and libations of holy water. The medium awakes fatigued and dazed, rarely remembering what he had spoken during trance.

An odalan ends with the dawn. The long tragic tale of the drama reaches its climax, the gamelan closes its stately song, and elderly women dance a final round of Pendet in farewell to the deities. Before returning home, the pemangkus recite prayers politely requesting the deities to depart in hopes that they have been well provided for during their visit and will, return to heaven pleased.

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