International Journal of Indonesian Studies Volume 1, Issue 3 | Page 14

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF INDONESIAN STUDIES SPRING 2016
- The route of the procession begins by collecting holy water for the final purification at the same places and the using the same formation of the parade as the previous ritual .
- After the final purification at a pavilion , the body of the deceased , which is placed in the casket , is ceremoniously left in a tall structure , called bade or wadah . This structure is then carried by family members and the banjar community to the cemetery . The formation of the parade is headed by the traditional orchestra of Angklung , followed by the ritual equipments and special offerings , trajang / stair , lembu / singa / petulangan ( a giant in the form of bull / lion used as the sarcophagus for cremating the corpse of nobility ), bade / tower and the traditional orchestra of gong serve as the last row of the parade formation . The route of the procession goes through the street intersection to the cemetery as the final ground of the cremation ceremony . At the main street intersection and nearby funeral ground , the three building structures ( trajang , lembu / singa , and bade ) are circumnavigated three times in opposite directions , as a symbol of the funerary ritual ( Figure 13 & 14 ).
- After finishing this parade to the cemetery , the sarcophagus is then placed in the funeral ground ; the bull ’ s backbone is opened and the sarcophagus is removed and placed in the burning procession . After the burning ceremony , the remaining ash is then blessed and placed in an urn ( a yellow coconut ), and wrapped finally with white cloth , called a bukur . This cloth is carried by family members to the coast and delivered into the sea , a ritual undertaking called nyukat / nganyud . As members now use private cars , to travel to the coast , there is no longer a parade by road as existed in the past .
Post cremation day
The post-cremation stage does not entail a reduction in ritual activity : indeed , parades still take place to designated locations . But there are different options for the deceased ’ s family to arrange these rituals which depend , in the main , on their personal preferences . In some cases , the family can choose to perform a continuous ritual event , which normally takes a whole day to complete . The royal family of Tabanan usually choose the 11 th and 12 th days after the cremation for offering the post cremation rituals , though they are also required to perform smaller rituals on the 3 rd and 5 th days after cremation . In regard to the route of the procession , those rituals on the 11 th and 12 th days entail the following :
- The ritual of removing the leaves from the bayan tree ( ngalap don bingin ) takes place on the 11 th day . The bayan tree is a symbol of condescendence , in which the soul is expected to obtain protection from the new world , and the ancestors are able to give ‘ condescendence ’ to their descendant . In this ritual , a parade is held on the road to the Bayan tree , accompanied by the traditional orchestra of gong . The bayan leaf is used in relation to the next day ceremony , called ngerorasin ( ngerorasin
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