Warfare ambience is thoroughly sensed when two fighters attack, wrestle and conquer each other. Accompanied by incessant selonding gamelan orchestra, the fighters vivaciously try to make an effort to injure each other by scratching thorny pandanus leaves on the body of his foe.
Such as scene occurred when a traditional show of Mekare-kare was performed last June 10 – 11. It is also called Megeret pandan meaning scratching or hooking thorny pandanus leaves. This event is held annually in relation to Usaba Sambah festivity at Tenganan Pegeringsingan Village (70 km east of Denpasar or some 1.5 hours drive). Mekare-kare is dedicated to the Lord Indra as god of war and coming storms, the supreme lord in the belief system of Tenganan community that practices Hinduism belonging to the Indraite sect.
Mekare-kare is organized at the courtyard of Patemu Tengah Pavilion that is commenced by strains of selonding gamelan music entitled Gending Dewa or the Lay of the Lord. This lay is exceptionally sacred, so no one is allowed to record the strains of this music in the form of audio. When the Gending Dewa comes to an end, ritual is resumed with mebuang namely presenting palm wine to lord Indra to invoke welfare. This procession is then resumed again at the end of Mekare-kare show to express gratitude on the welfare and smoothness of the ritual. Except for the gending Dewa, other ritual processions can be recorded audio visually.
The crowning point of the mekare-kare event is marked by the pitting of the men, including children and adults, and is not restricted to the local customary village, but is open to other villages, and even tourists may take part in this event. They fight one by one by selecting an equivalent foe.
The main skilld in this fight are attacking and dodging. Attacking is done by scratching or hooking parts of the foe’s body by using a handful of fastened thorny pandanus leaves. A bundle of this pandanus is composed of five cuts of thorny leaves up to 30 – 40 cm each in length. Parts of the body that may be attacked are under the neck and above the waist. By and large, most scratches occur on the back. While, for defense the fighter should employ a tamiang or shield made from rattan. During the fight, there is a referee who oversees the assists in breaking up the fight.
The Mekare-kare helps in the building of mental behavior namely knighthood values (braveness, sportsman-ship, brotherhood and togetherness), because after the fight, they always forgive and cure each other by using boreh (traditional herbal scrub).

News by International Bali Post

Related Content

SPACE FOR ADS

Subscribe to the post comments feeds or Leave a trackback