Besides the dim history on the carnage of PKI – Partai Komunis Indonesia (Indonesia Communist Party) in Jembrana regency there is another story of love and tolerance inside. This is on religions in Jembrana where Hindu, Muslim, Catholic, and Protestant live together in harmony. They have created the villages of tolerance for them selves especially and for Bali generally.

Penjor. flickr.com/photos/kaiconragan/

On this Chritmas Day there are two Christian communities who are celebrating it. They are the Protestant of Abyasari Village and the Catholic of Palasari Village. Albeit they are not Hindu, they celebrate Christmas in Hindu’s way by killing pigs for the Christmas meal two days before the D-day (like the Hindu on Penampahan Galungan). They also make penjor (highly decorated bamboo poles) and using the Hindu traditional clothes (kebaya, belt, and sarong — for women and udeng hat, double sarongs – for men) when going to church.

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Head cloth, or udeng is the most striking part of Balinese traditional dress. An udeng is actually a piece of square cloth about one meter on each side. It may have overall design but it is usually symmetrical. The wearer folds the cloth into a triangle rolls up the long end several times until the remaining triangle is small enough to cover the head, and ties it to the head. The entire udeng is tied to the head in such way that the point of the triangle faces toward the rear and the knot is centered on the forehead, then one side of the triangle is pulled behind the knot, making a crest known as “jambul,” after the tuff of feather on the head of some birds.

There are many style of udeng; above mentioned technique is used to make a general udeng which are widely used by Balinese men. Some men prefer to use different style of udeng to distinguish themselves from the crowd but some use a different kind of udeng as a mark of their social or religious role, for example: priest used a distinguished style of udeng, known as “udeng mangku” as a sign of priesthood; this style has a knot on the back of the head and the triangle cover the head. Pecalang (traditional security force) also use a unique style of udeng known as jejantaran as sign of their role as a security force.

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In Bali, becoming blacksmiths is not a matter of skill. Although you can learn how to make a steel implement, you cannot be called a blacksmith. The only way to become a blacksmiths is to be born in a Pande family.

The smiths in Bali are called, generally, pande, the most influential among them being blacksmiths: pande wesi, or pande besi. The historical importance of their craft, particularly in the shaping of the magically charged and (unfortunately) very practical kris daggers, gave this group of low caste artisans a status that seemed to fall outside the usual dictates of caste. The Pande is a small, but very tightly knit clan group in Bali. Although the Pande clan did not exist, even in the earliest days the pande has considerable political power, including the right to seat representatives on the governing bodies of the desa (village). To maintain their position of prestige, the smiths kept their techniques secret and saw it in that marriage would take place only within their own professional group. And today, this clan is still fiercely proud, the most conservative in its ranks refusing the religious authority of the Brahmana priest - some, claiming ancestry preceding Hinduism, even creating a sort of hybrid religion of their own.

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Udeng - Traditional head cloth worn by men; called destar in high Balinese.