Barrie sent me an article about an annual Balinese festival that is coming soon. Tumpek Landep was all about honoring weapons, but that has come to include motorbikes and other metal objects. Here’s what Barrie has to say about Tumpek Landep.
Tumpek Landep
The first Tumpek to take place every cycle is Tumpek Landep, the Saturday of Landep, the second week of the Pawukon. This is a day of offerings to weapons of war, particularly the sacred kris short swords, but also guns or other weapons. If a family owns such a weapon, on Tumpek Landep it is reverently unsheathed in the family temple, sprinkled with holy water, and presented with offerings of woven coconut leaves, flowers, and fruits. Incense and sandalwood are burnt, and family members, a lay priest, or a balian - a kind of shaman - offer prayers. The balian will know the proper mantras for the weapon. Although originally specified for weapons of war, the chief recipients of attention on Tumpek Landep today are motorcycles, trucks, and automobiles which, though certainly lethal weapons, seem hardly to be what the founders of Balinese Hinduism had imagined.
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