If you happen to be in Bali today, you will have a chance to see cars, motorcycles and bicycles all over the island are adorned with beautiful coconut-leaf decorations. Today, Balinese celebrate Tumpek Landep holiday; a holiday in which Balinese hold a ceremony as a homage to god Pasupati, the lord of steel implements and to express their gratitude to all steel implements which help Balinese in their everyday live.

In the bygone days, Tumpek Landep ceremony was only dedicated to weapons which made of steel such as Kris daggers, spears, swords and so on, especially the weapons that has been “pasupati-ed”, or invested with magical power. Actually, the word ‘landep’ is a high Balinese dialect means ‘sharp’ and usually associated with weapon.

With the passing of time, new implements made of steel and useful to the Balinese life appears, and weapons are now not the only thing that is useful to the Balinese. And nowadays, all steel-made and plastic-made implements are given veneration and offerings. Among the newly venerated implements are car, motorcycle, pushbike, personal computer, television, laptop, scissors, knife, etc. Even hand phone now begins to creep into the list.

The reasoning behind this mass addition is that all these newly venerated implements have helped the Balinese in their daily life, in their works. They are now the weapons that are used in daily struggle of life; make the struggle easier and sometimes they become the tools of living. Taxi drivers will decorate and give an elaborate offering to their car, students will give special veneration to their personal computer, and so on. They deserve an offering as a sign of gratitude, for Balinese anything that have helped them deserve some appreciations.

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