NgabenBy: Shannon 5c.

The Ritual..

Ngaben is a ritual from Bali. The ritual is doing a cremation. This ritual is about dead, so when the people was dead the family put it like the deceased is sleeping so the family consider the deceased is sleeping. The deceased will temporarily not present and will have new place for rest in Moksha.

Where does it Happen?

This ritual happened in Bali. This country is a name of island in Indonesia. Most of the people who was from Bali is Hindhu. Bali is a province in the country of Indonesia. The island is located in the westernmost end of the Lesser Sunda Islands, lying between Java to the west and Lombok to the east.

Who does it?

People who celebrate this ritual is Hindhu people. But the one who celebrate Ngaben is only in Bali. All the hindhu people follow this ritual because this is their own ritual from their own religion that is hindhu. Hindhu is the majority religion in the Thousand Islands this temple.

When does it happen?

This ritual is happened when the hindhu people was dead. There are no specific/special date to do this ritual because the hindhu people do this ritual when they’re dead. But if the people don’t have any money for the ceremony the deceased still be burnt. And after they burnt the deceased are will be aranged in a form of a line.

What is the Purpose?

Hindhu people keep this ritual to send the deceased to the next life. And the people want to restore the ancestral spirits (of the dead) to the place of origin.

Equipment, Materials

The equipment and materials that they use are: coffin, the coffin is for the deceased because the deceased is put in the coffin. Sarcophagus, the sarcophagus is use to put the deceased in the sarcophagus. Lembu is a special ngaben’s equipment because only use by use by high cast people Lembu is the special ngaben’s equipment because only used by high caste people and the color also different like the white lembu is special for Brahmana, black lembu is for Ksatria, and for the unmarried people he has high caste so he use yellow or white lembu because people still considered that he still holly. Lembu is made from bamboo and it shape like lembu and wrap by colorful paper. Bade is like a tower where the body is put inside it and all of the community member carried on their shoulders to the cemetery. When they pass across road, T-junction they have to round the bade for three times to the clock wise. They to do it because it is a custom and they believe the soul cannot back home again. If ngaben ceremony using lembu, they carried off also the lembu to the cemetery and when they arrived at the cemetery the body is taken out from the bade and it is put inside the lembu. After the blessing finish, the eldest son lit the fire to burn the lembu which contain the body inside it. The body is also burn together with the lembu. That’s why ngaben cost much money.

Steps of doing it

There are some steps to do the ritual. First, the corpse will be laid down in a burning place then it will be put in buried place. Second, the priest make a ritual program of ceremony and many people follow. After the priest make a ritual program of ceremony they burnt the decease and arrange it in a form of a line. After all been burning and cremating there is still another step because the atman or spirit are still have other part of element that need to be eliminated that we call Panca Karmendria or five major sin that we are doing. The Panca Karmendria is consist of: Padendria (sin that coming from our path of life), Payundria (sin that coming from our food in life), Panendria (sin from our hand created), Upastenindia (sin from our sexual behavior), and Wakindriya (sin from our speech or our mouth). The ceremony to “erase” those sin is we call as “Nyekah.”