September 30, 2008

NGINGSAH

Voices inviting the gods to descend float on the night air.

All of the pengiring are here tonight, to symbolically wash the rice to be used in the mukur cleansing ritual. Symbols of Sri Sedana, the female and male deities of rice, are walked slowly around the sacred space with the rice to be washed carried close behind. It is solemn; the only sounds the sacred song of invitation. Everyone involved in the ceremony is in attendance. Ida Bagus Suanda, the Brahmin with the booming voice, tells us what to do. Everyone follows his instructions to a T, no questions asked, and there is no need to as his knowledge is deep and appropriate.

We gather in front of the XXXX shrine, where a special bamboo pipe has been rigged to pour holy water through from the back. The uncooked rice sits in a clay pot in front of the shrine and as the water rushes down, we can palpate the holiness of this act: Three rings of three colors are placed in the rice, with a silver and a bronze coin (prosperity and the three colors represent the Hindu trinity of Brahma, Wisnu and Siwa). Rice is the staff of life for Balinese and Sri Sedana is venerated with dignity. After the pot is nearly full of water, Agung is called (as the son of the deceased we are honoring) up to have the honor of the first washing. He plunges his hands into the rice, pouring it over itself, and mixing all the grains with the rings and coins. He then takes some of the water, after carefully making sure that no grains of rice have spilled out onto the mat beneath it, and washes his face with it. I then step up and do the same and then all the other family members and then the pengiring. After we have all washed the rice we pour it into a rice steamer to drain it of the water.

There are two pots of regular rice, one “male”, one “female”. Ubag-ubig offerings made out of lontar leaves and replete with gentials (appropriate to the gender) are stuck into the rice grains. There are three pots of sticky rice (used to make rice cakes): black, red and white. Each of these goes through the same ceremony. Once we have washed all the rice we walk in a stately procession to the Bale Pewedan (Sacred Sound Pavilion where the Brahmanic priest will invoke the deities at a later date) with Sri Sedana at the head. They are place in the northern end of the Bale Pewedan and the rice is then placed in raised “beds” south of the images. Offerings of canang are placed on top and then all of us pray together for a successful ceremony.

This is the first time either Agung or I have participated in the ngingsah ritual and it is one of the more touching ceremonies I have seen here in Bali. It was not only the reverence for the rice goddess and god, but the fact that the entire community took part in this.
After we prayed, I did a very un Balinese thing: I requested time to speak and told the pengiring how much we valued all the work they were doing for this ceremony, that they should tell me if I am doing something wrong and that all I could say was thank you.
And all of this through streaming tears. I felt that “a California moment” had just taken place and knew that they would would think it odd, if not inappropriate but the message (I think) got through. This is the first time in 22 years that I have felt a real part of Agung’s community (not his family, but the larger village).

Note: this is the third ceremony performed in the Mukur ritual we are doing for Agung’s late mother and two nephews. After a person is cremated, s/he is still in “limbo” until purified through water and fire again. The mukur is much more elaborate than the crematory rites. Often, a mass mukur takes place when someone of high caste is performing this ritual—then others in the village take advantage of the opportunity to
”ride on the coattails” and have their own dead purified at the same time. This is an honor for both parties—the high caste family takes full responsibility for the costs and the organizing and the villagers (called pengiring or followers) provide most of the labor, working 18 hours a day at times.

There are 22 other souls being purified on 4 October 2008 alongside Tu Niang, Gung De Putra and Gung Alit.