The
Barong
The
witch has a contender for supremacy in a fantastic animal,
a mythical " lion " called Barong. Because
of an ancient. feud with Rangda, he sides with human
beings to thwart her. evil plans, and the Balinese say
that without his help humanity would be destroyed. While
Rangda is female, the magic of, the left,""
the Barong is the " right," the male. Rangda
is the night, the darkness from which emanate illness
and death. the Barong is the sun, the light, medicine,
the antidote for evil.
Every
community owns a set of the costumes and masks of both
characters. These masks have great power in themselves
and are kept out of sight in a special shed in the death
temple of the village. They are put away in a basket,
wrapped a magic cloth that insulates their evil vibrations,
and are uncovered only when actually in use, when the
performer-medium is in a' trance and under the control
of a priest, and not before offerings have been made
to prevent harm to the participants. At, the feasts
of the death temples their masks are uncovered and exhibited
in one of the shrines. It is a good precaution to sprinkle.
These masks with holy water when someone is sick in
the village.
Like
the Rangda, the Barong is treated with great respect
and the Balinese address him by titles such as Banaspati
Radja," " Lord of the jungle," or as
Djero" Gede', " The Big One," rather
than as Barong, which is only a generic name for his
sort of monster.
Despite his demoniac character, the Barong materializes
in a trance play in which be is made to act foolishly
and to dance for the amusement of the crowd. His costume
consists of a great frame covered with long hair, with
a sagging back of golden' scales set with little mirrors.
A beautifully arched gold tail sticks out of his rump
and from it hang a square mirror, a bunch of peacock
feathers, and a cluster of little bells that jingle
at every move. Under a high gilt crown is his red mask,
too small for his body, with bulging eyes and snapping
jaws. The power of the Barong is concentrated in his
beard, a tuft of human hair decorated with flowers.
The Barong is animated by two specially trained men
who form the front and hind quarters of the animal,
the man in front operating the mask with his hands.
In
Pemecutan the Barong play began with a performance of
djauk, a group of boys wearing grinning white masks,
who danced to the delicate tunes of a legong orchestra
called in this case bebarongan. After the dance the
two Barong performers went under the costume that lay
inanimate on two poles, the mask covered by a white
cloth. Like a circus prop-horse, the Barong danced,
wiggling his hind quarters, lying down, contracting
and expanding like an accordion, snapping his jaws,
and in general behaving in a comic, rather undignified
manner for his awesome character. After his gay outburst
of animal spirits, he began a long dance, staring around
as if astounded by magic visions that filled the air.
He was constantly on the alert for invisible enemies,
growing more and more alarmed, clicking his teeth like
castanets as the tempo of the music increased. Firecrackers
began to explode at the far end of the arena, startling
the Barong, and when the smoke cleared, the figure of
Rangda appeared, yelling curses at the Barong, who appeared
humiliated by her insults. But eventually he reacted
and they rushed at each other, fighting and rolling
on the ground until the Barong was made to bite the
dust.
In
the meantime a group of half-naked men sitting on a
mat went into a trance. They were the assistants of
the Barong against Rangda. A priest consecrated some
water by dipping the Barong's beard into it, and sprinkled
the men, who shook all over as if in an epileptic fit.
With their eyes glued on the Rangda, they got up, drawing
their krisses, advancing like fidgety automatons towards
the witch, who awaited them ready with her white cloth,
her weapon, ready in her raised band. Suddenly she ran
after them, but just then one of the priests on watch
noticed something unusual in her behavior and passed
the word that she was out of control. She was caught
by a group of strong men and led away, but not before
she had put a spell on the entranced men by joining
the thumbs of her outstretched hands and yelling a curse.
By
the spell, the krisses in the hands of the men turned
against them, but the magic of the Barong hardened their
flesh so that, although they pushed the sharp points
of the daggers with all their might against their naked
chests, they were not even hurt. This was the explanation
the Balinese gave of the strange exhibition and it seemed
inconceivable that they were faking such was the earnest
force with which they seemed to try to stab themselves.
Some leaped wildly or rolled in the dust, pressing the
krisses against their breasts and crying like children,
tear streaming from their eyes. Most showed dark marks
where the point of the dagger bruised the skin without
cutting it, but blood began to flow from the breast
of one, the signal for the watchmen to disarm him by
force.
It
is said that only by a complete trance can the dance
be performed with impunity; otherwise a man will wound
himself or hurt others. They were closely watched and
if one of them gave signs of returning to consciousness
he was quickly and violently disarmed. Possessed as
they are, they have supernatural strength and it takes
many men to hold them down. Even after the kris has
been wrenched away they continue to dance with a blank
stare and with the right fist still clenched as if grasping
the kris handle. To take the men out of the trance,
they were led, one by one, to where the Barong stood;
someone sucked the bleeding chest of the wounded man
and stuck a red flower in the cut. The pemangku wiped
the face of each man with the beard of the Barong dipped
in holy water, and gradually the hysterical men came
out of the trance, dazed, simply walking away as if
they did not know what had happened to them.
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INDONESIA
