Ngaben’s Equipment

On the previous posting has been described that ngaben is not as simple as you thing because it is traditional ceremony. So there are a lot of ngaben’s equipment. Ngaben’s equipment base on someone social status. The more high someone social status there are a lot of equipments they need. Not only social status influence the ngaben ceremony but key is also about economy. If someone doesn’t have enough money to held ngaben ceremony, the family will burry the body before they have enough money to held it. But there is another solution before they can collect a lot of money that is mass ngaben. What is mass ngaben? Mass ngaben is ngaben which is hold by one group or one village. So the mass ngaben is the best solution for someone who has low economic background.
and then now we back to talk about ngaben’s equipment. For a rich people they can buy it in a special place called sangging. Sangging is someone who has a special skill making all of ngaben’s equipment. As the era had changed now people prefer to buy everyting that they need. Before long long time ago the community made all of the ngaben’s equipment at home. Of course it needed much time and a lot of cost. Might be it took a few months to finish it. So, because of that now people are busy in their jobs, they prefer to order it to the sangging.

There are many kinds of ngaben’s equipment such as bade and lembu. 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 suci. Lembu is made from bamboo and it shape like lembu and wrap by clorfull papper. Bade is like a tower where the body is put insinde it and all of the community member carried on their shoulders to the cemetery. When they pass across road, T-juncition they have to round the bade for three times to the clock wise. They to do it because it is a custom and they belive the soul can not back home again. If ngaben ceremony using lembu, they carried of 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 bode is also burn together with the lembu. That’s why ngaben cost much money.

the body