Archive for January, 2008
Tooth Filing Ceremony: Bali
Tooth Filing is an important rite of passage for Balinese Hindus that marks the transition from childhood to adulthood. Metatah or “tooth filing” is a common ritual which typically takes place during the months of July and August. In the Balinese belief system, the ceremony helps people rid themselves of the invisible forces of evil - teeth are the symbol of lust, greed, anger, insobriety, confusion and jealousy. Long teeth are seen as these signs and the filing of teeth is believed to cleanse the body and soul of unseen malignant forces. The teeth filing is performed by a professional known as a “sangging” who is traditionally of the Brahmana caste. Filing the teeth therefore renders someone both more physically and more spiritually beautiful, as well as symbolising the rite of passage for an adolescent into adulthood.
Date: January 31st, 2008 |
No Comments
Teak and Teak Caterpillar Cocoons
Teak (Tectona grandis) is a wonderfully versatile wood that is good for building, furniture making and also fine carving. It keeps well indoors and out and is so highly valued here that in Javanese, the name for teak, kayu jati, also means real wood.
Date: January 31st, 2008 |
No Comments
Eggs Across the Archipelago
In most parts of Indonesia eggs are not only used in cooking but also play a role in ceremonial customs. And, when we speak about eggs, we usually specify the type: telur ayam (hen eggs), telur bebek (duck eggs), telur puyuh (quail eggs), telur angsa (goose eggs), telur maleo (giant eggs of the small maleo bird in Sulawesi) and telur penyu or kura-kura (turtle eggs).
Date: January 31st, 2008 |
No Comments
Talago Buni Music: West Sumatra
The contemporary music of Talago Buni (The Lake of Sounds), which was founded in 1998 in Minangkabau, West Sumatra, is a creative departure from the Minang pop music that has today become mainstream. With its powerful spirit of innovation and creation, Talago Buni has successfully taken its inspiration from an oft-neglected source, traditional arts.
Date: January 30th, 2008 |
No Comments
Improving an Old City: Jakarta, West Java
Jakarta’s Old City has been going through gradual transformation over the last few years. Thanks to the efforts of Jakarta’s Provincial Government and Jakarta Old Town Kotaku, the area has never been more pleasant.
Date: January 30th, 2008 |
No Comments
Where is Lombok?
Lombok lies around 35 kilometers east of Bali, at the start of the Nusa Tenggara-Timor island chain that stretches hundreds of kilometers across the islands of Komodo, Rinca, Sumbawa, Flores and Sumba. Lombok is the westernmost island of this chain, which becomes arid and dry after the Wallace Line.
Date: January 31st, 2008 |
No Comments
Raja Kuring Restaurant: Jakarta, West Java
I’m picky when it comes to places to eat. Maybe I have my priorities a little muddled, but unlike the typical culinary tourist, the perfect flavors and taste sensations are not enough for me. What I search for is ambiance. So when I had the chance to have lunch at a restaurant in a restored 400-year-old Dutch warehouse in Jakarta’s designated tourist area, Old Town in Kota, North Jakarta, I was more than eager to go as Prodita Sabarini explains.
Date: January 31st, 2008 |
No Comments
Nusa Penida Coral Conservation: Bali
The Indonesian chapter of the Nature Conservancy (TNC), a non-governmental environmental organization based in the U.S., has stated that the coral reef around Nusa Penida Island off Bali will be the focus of a new conservation program.
Date: January 31st, 2008 |
No Comments
Sayap Ibu Foundation
Six sightless children with swollen heads, out of fourteen children between the ages of three and 14, were lying weakly on mattresses on the floor. Others sat in wheelchairs with their heads lolling around and hands flapping uncontrollably. They are children with mental and physical disabilities: hydrocephalus (water on the brain, which causes the brain to swell with fluid) and cerebral palsy (brain damage due to oxygen deprivation, infection and physical trauma, during or after pregnancy).
Date: January 30th, 2008 |
No Comments
Who are Indonesia’s Ethnic Chinese?
The mention of “Indonesia’s ethnic Chinese” invites curious reactions. In Australia alone, there are a number of popular images portraying them, the most common being, “rich but corrupt and unscrupulous in robbing the country by colluding with equally corrupt officials”, and “despised and always brutally victimized, psychologically and physically”, Dewi Anggraeni writes.Unless you are interested enough to read specialist books and scholarly papers on the issues, those popular images, and little else, are what you see.
Date: January 30th, 2008 |
No Comments
