I think it would take me a year and would turn out to be a book of several volumes to describe what I have seen and experienced in the temple at the village over the past 2 days….but I will try and put some of it down just to give a peek….
And as I write "a peek" it already takes me off into a tangent of comparing it to the masked dancer performance of the Ramayana in the temple that I just came back from,… the actors/dancers/ all wear white shirts and pants and on top of that cloaks that designate who the character from the tales is along with his mask. What struck me most today was watching them up front and seeing that the use of the cloak is in order to reveal their hidden powers…so when the "bad guys" ( the giants) want to exhibit their powers, they suddenly slightly lift with one finger a part of the cloak on the right or left side for a moment, along with the gamelon music which suddenly becomes dramatic….so I will try and lift with one finger to give a peek of the hidden powers of this village tejekula, this temple, this Hinduism, this bali…
When I was in anturan village playing the gamelon in the temple, I needed to wear traditional temple dress which is a sarong, with a sash tied on top of a blouse that is over the skirt….so I had a few blouses made to match the sarongs I had bought….and then there were no longer rehearsals, and I had all these outfits and nowhere to go! I thought what a waste! When will there be a ceremony that I can get all decked out in Balinese style clothes,., and then I came here and immediately joined the celebration that began 2 days ago and just ended…inaugurating the newly enlarged temple complex. With prayer, offerings, and this premier performance of the Ramayana with the masks and costumes that have not been used in the past 100 years here. Anyways…a good reason to wear my see through brocade blouse and sarong. So off I went.
Walking to the village takes about 10 minutes and goes along a winding path amongst tall trees and tropical plants, with small shacks or houses tucked away on the sides along the path, until getting to the more wealthy brick complexes. The road is also dotted with some kiosks that sell the basics (flip flap rubber tongs, rice, corn, washing powder, cigarettes, barrettes, water, etc.). so as I walk along, most of the people are just "hanging out" either on the covered platforms, or in the dark entrances to the store front….just sitting or checking someone's hair for head lice, or sleeping there….all the kids like to practice their English, so as soon as they see me, they yell "hello!" and then hide behind another kid or their mothers skirt or stand there giggling…and I yell "hello" back,
Then the other way that I attract attention is when the women see me dressed in Balinese clothes, they start to giggle too, and talk among them. The men give a big smile and say "good" . In fact everyone gives a big smile, the kids, the women, the men, the young, the old. Everyone is smiling and happy to say hello, and I even got beeped by a motorcyclist who was passing with his wife to the temple and I smiled as they passed, so he beeped which means hello in return…
Those who speak good English come right up to me, whether kids or adults, usually men, who use it in business, and they introduce themselves and want to know my name and where I come from and then tell me their name and ask where I am living. Today at the performance we were about 1000 people all sitting on the ground squished next to each other or standing for the 3 hour performance….and one man next to me, with his Blackberry in his front pocket, was kind enough to keep me informed of who the good guys and bad guys in the play were, and what was going to happen next, and who the best dancer is or who the oldest one is and that he is 70 years old and still doing it, etc…I am grateful.. It added much to the understanding of what this all entails…
Yesterday I met my guardian angel there…I didn't know it at the time, but since then he has showed up just when I needed someone…I can't remember his name, even though he remembers mine, and yesterday when I just wandered into the temple grounds alone with lots of villagers busy setting up, praying etc, and just kind of stood there taking it all in, he walked up to me and started speaking excellent English and welcoming me. He even knows where Israel is and was even in Haifa! Because he used to work on a cruise ship. He has now returned and built a beautiful villa in the village after having been away for 20 years. All of the people I met here are of a different brand….not like the ones where I came from….I don't know whether it has to do with being in the east, now and not the west, or being far from a big city, or what, but these people are just lovely. God willing it will continue…there is no sense of anyone wanting or trying to take advantage of my naïveté, or trying to sell me something or get me to pay them for a tour or anything…just friendly, informative, welcoming, kind people…then this morning I was walking back from the center of town (10 shops, 2 of which are small internet ones, a beauty shop, a general store, …) and I wanted to donate some money to the temple since yesterday I didn't bring any with me, and most of the people donated in order to cover the costs of everything involved in the celebration…a big $10 was the recommended sum, but for those families that couldn't afford it, less. And those that could gave more…so I decided to donate too, since I was so touched by it all, and grateful, but when I was passing a small contribution stand outside a shop, I sign languaged him that I want to donate, and he refused to take my money…just smiled…so I walked on and then my angel showed up on his motorbike and stopped to say hello and how am i. I laughed and said "just in time…I am trying to donate money but they don't want to take it" so he drove me a few meters to the temple where the contributions were being collected and since I wasn’t in temple clothing I couldn't go in the gate so I asked him to give it to them. And he told me to wait for my receipt…which he wrote thank you on in English! I then asked if he will show me which house is his. And he agreed…I had a feeling it was this very impressive modern black and white large compound near the temple, and sure enough, he stopped his bike after driving up his drive in covered entrance! I laughed and said I knew this had to be his house…I asked if I could see it and he said sure, and we walked through the gateway into a courtyard with a " U" shape of rooms; 4 bedrooms that opened out to the courtyard, and 2 living rooms with only 3 walls also opening out to the courtyard. One with a fancy red and white sachnin style sofa and chair and a television. that's it! I suppose the kitchen was on the other wing, which is how they do things here, cooking in a separate area. He introduced me to his son 9 and daughter 6 who were laying on their parents bed watching television after school, and shy so hiding when I came in until he pulled him out from behind the bed to introduce me, laughing…I thanked him and left. And then today in the afternoon I returned to the temple again for the final performances ending the celebration. This time without a camera, so I could feel more part of it and not just an outsider looking through a camera lens amazed at all the sights and sounds…that was yesterday…today I wanted the real thing…and just as I stood again, looking at the inner temple and trying to decide whether to go in and pray and be blessed, or to wait outside and watch 3 old women making the little one time disposable plates from leaves and thin strips of bamboo that they use to hold it together like we would use a stapler…and as I stood there, he appeared at my side and said "why not have a go at it too? " and my motto is "say yes to life" so I said "Yes" and the old women giggled as he sat me down and told one of them to teach me, and watched as I began encouraging me all along…and then disappeared…and there I sat, on the platform opposite the narrow entrance to the inner temple, where everyone goes in and out, so either when entering or exiting I received a smile, a giggle, a pointed finger and laughing remark , or sparkling eyes from everyone…parents even stop to tell their children to say "hello" to me…it may be either to practice their English or because they are teaching them hospitality; you say hello to foreigners to make them feel at home and invited…and it works!
There is nothing like hands on experience to understand something in depth, and so as I began to make the little shallow leaf bowls by sign language with the woman, trying to figure out what I did wrong that she is redoing, or in what order does the next leaf come frontside down or backside up or why my little pins I made from the bamboo stick are being replaced by her, or why she giggled when I showed her the finished product…so the next one I did I began to realize that everything goes round,,,aesthetics and in circles, and that it should be done beautifully as well as effectively, and that the beauty of a circle of bamboo "staples" if done at in the right place, will later make wrapping the band around it with "staples" in the other direction, sturdy, complete, and aesthetic…for the gods…since no one else will use or see it…and tomorrow it will be in the garbage.
Next came prayer time, which is altogether 5-10 minutes and is done in rotation, in and out, people sit on the ground behind the priests, opposite the altars and the person with the microphone is chanting and then the priest takes his mic and says the words to the prayer which is standard and involves clasping ones hands together pointing upwards with thumbs at the third eye, and him saying something, at which point I just decide what I want to thank god for…I feel we are all speaking the same language and have the same intentions…this goes on 3 times adding different flower petal combinations between the third fingers each time and then placing it either behind you right ear or in the bun of your hair and then the priest comes over to each one and with his little branch and sacred water he drips water on your head with a flick of his wrist while I sit with my palms open on my knees, and then put right palm onto left and he drops water on it which I bring to my lips and drink 3 times, and then 3 more drips on my palms which go on the top of my head, and then he serves me some uncooked damp rice which I take a bit in my finger and gather a few grains for my third eye first, then behind each ear, then below my throat and the rest on the top of my head…I think it is fantastic…it is just what I used to pray for anyways; proper thoughts, sights, sounds, and speaking and good intentions. Another clasping of the hands at the third eye, then a waving of the incense towards over our shoulders.. and then you get up and leave so other people can begin the same thing…this goes on for hours all day, with the women first placing the burning incense into their offerings and placing them around the altars before sitting down barefoot on their flip flops which give a little bit of a cushion, keep the sarong from being muddy on the wet ground, and allow your feet to be barefoot for the praying.
I wanted to be blessed before the play began at 3:30 since I knew it was holy and everyone else would have gone through this ceremony first too, so it seemed appropriate…naively thinking that 3:30 means 3:30…I went to sit in a good place already so that I could watch the play at a good angle enabling viewing their feet movements too. So I sat there for almost an hour until it began, but it was fun talking with the people and just watching how they do things…it is all so casual, with the gamelon players playing ( maybe the gong tells them in how many more minutes the play will begin?!) and slowly the place filled up until they were 10 deep surrounding the rectangle roped off for the stage. This time I could see what a super effort it is for the actors…with these heavy wooden, I think, carved masks on them, with just a few tiny slits for air, and dark glass where their eyes look out from inside, and all the layers of cloaks and tails and calf decorations…
I realized that these 50 some masks are all representations of different character traits that we have, or different forces that we experience in our daily life…and just by the distance of the eyes, or size of the face (the demons/giants had huge faces with big nostrils and bulging eyes, the royalty had very small faces with a thin twirly mustache and small teeth, the monkeys (which were the army of the king) had buck teeth and big faces too…at one point the man that spoke English explained to me that the giant is very dangerous and if they do not give him an offering now, he can harm one of the villagers some time this year! And then suddenly the priest and his entourage and some offerings and his ringing bell in left hand and chanting all appeared in the middle of the "stage" and a small live black chicken had to have his head torn off and eaten by the giant…which is what he proceeded to do ( other than actually swallowing it, but had the blood on the mask and his hand, for real!, and the performance continued and the chicken was just thrown to the side to slowly die, while all eyes continued to watch the dancers…
Everyone knows the story, and everyone was cheering the good guys and booing the bad ones at select times…it was fascinating to see how this is a "teaching". This is how they learn what life is all about….the trials and errors, the rhythm, the good traits and the negative ones, what you need in order to battle the negative ones, how you can recognize them, how they effect you, what they sound like, how they behave, how you interact with them, what is the act of discovering the middle path, what happens when you go to the right, or to the left of life, how life is a multitude of steps forwards and backwards and right and left and hesitations and temptations, and victory, and battles….so there we were over 1000 people, men usually with the kids, women standing in the background, children up front with their dads, for almost 3 hours watching a drama they all know by heart. The words are incomprehensible, but enable the actors to use body language as they recite them underneath the masks, so that the audience and the musicians know exactly what is happening with every gesture which is learnt by heart and has nothing to do with individual expression or interpretation. This is a service dedicated to the gods of the temple, not an show for entertainment or fame or ego…this also enables people to talk the whole time, move about, no one really needs pee pee or gets bored. The ending is known, the good guys win the bad guys, and everyone cheers and goes piling out the narrow temple doors, just like traffic in delhi, from all directions, without room for a pin in between us, but no one is pushing or annoyed…they are one unit, now exiting
The actors/dancers are from a certain caste, and it is passed down from father to son. This is done after their daily work, without pay, for the temple and the community, it is a duty they perform willingly, just like everything else they do…always together…so often I see the kids walking home from school, even at the age of 5 with their arms around each others shoulders, boys with boys and girls with girls. Yesterday when I walked to the temple there was a real rainstorm for about 20 minutes…I had an umbrella and stood on the side, but was still pretty soaked, and others just continued to ride their motorbikes, or set up the equipment for the offerings etc, soaking wet, but with no notice of it, since the weather is pleasant and so is the rain, and it will dry eventually, so what difference does it make if you are soaking wet? I laughed though as I continued to walk after the storm towards the village, the road flooded with water and offerings swishing past me and wetting my feet, and a 10 year old was walking with his shoes on purposely into the gutter of ankle deep water as he walked home from school completely drenched, with backpack, happy as could be.!
That was the peek….there is still so much more…
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