Villagers give holy turtle royal cremation<\/p>\n
Tri Vivi Suryani, Contributor, Klungkung<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people from Tojan village showed up for a symbolic
\ncremation in Klungkung regency last Friday. Unlike ordinary
\nrituals where villagers cremate the remains of their loved ones,
\nthat day they attended a cremation of a giant turtle.<\/p>\n
The turtle was believed to be the incarnation of the god of
\nSegara Kidul, the god of the South Sea. That day, the sky was
\ncloudy and windy. This was unusual weather for Bali, which was
\nsupposed to have entered its long dry season.<\/p>\n
\"It could be a sign from above,\" said a visitor on Klungkung
\nbeach, the place where the ngaben (cremation) ceremony took
\nplace.<\/p>\n
An official of Klungkung administration, I Nengah Becik,
\nexplained that the cremation was the first ever to be held on the
\nisland.<\/p>\n
\"This is not a touristy event intended to amuse visitors. It's
\naimed at purifying our soil and ridding ourselves of guilt,\"
\nNengah said. Everybody at the cremation cried silently hoping for
\npardons from their ancestors and gods.<\/p>\n
The story began three weeks ago when a fisherman found a rare
\nturtle measuring 224 centimeters long and more than 80 cm in
\nwidth. The huge turtle, weighing about 500 kilograms, was later
\nkilled by hundreds of villagers.<\/p>\n
A prominent religious figure at Tojan village said the turtle
\nwas actually the god of the South Sea who wanted to monitor the
\nconstruction of the Hindu temple of Watu Klotok in the village.<\/p>\n
The Balinese Hindu devotees strongly believe that a temple is
\na holy site where ancestral deities and gods reside.<\/p>\n
After they killed the turtle, they brought the slaughtered
\nanimal to a market in Denpasar hoping that they could sell its
\nmeat.<\/p>\n
Turtle meat is a famous Bali delicacy and is used as an
\noffering during various religious ceremonies. But as the number
\nof turtles in Bali has sharply decreased, the provincial
\ngovernment has declared it an endangered and protected species.<\/p>\n
When arriving at Denpasar market, nobody was willing to buy
\nthe turtle meat after seeing its markings on the sole of one of
\nits feet. The traders immediately assumed that this was a special
\nturtle.<\/p>\n
After failing to sell the turtle meat, the villagers brought
\nthe turtle back to the village and buried it immediately.<\/p>\n
Then, strange things began to happen. The men who slaughtered
\nthe turtle suffered from certain illnesses. They felt that
\nsomebody had hit their bodies and left blue marks on their backs.
\nThe other men fell into a trance.<\/p>\n
A number of religious leaders in the village confirmed that
\nthe turtle would have brought prosperity to the village. But when
\nthe villagers treated the animal cruelly, they were punished for
\ntheir wrongdoing.<\/p>\n
One of the villagers even claimed to see the grave of the
\nslaughtered turtle spurt out fresh blood \"like a fountain\".<\/p>\n
The Tojan villagers decided to symbolically cremate the turtle
\nto expel bad influences on their lives and the village.<\/p>\n
They exhumed the turtle's grave and treated it like a dead
\nhuman with a series of rituals to send its soul to heaven.<\/p>\n
The pemangku (priests) performed a symbolic cremation by
\nburning an effigy, and the body of the turtle was again buried in
\na proper way. The ceremony ended peacefully and the people sighed
\nwith relief.<\/p>\n
\"It is hoped that the ceremony will cleanse our village. It
\nwas a good lesson for us not to kill God's creatures, especially
\nwhen it was an incarnation of a holy creature,\" a visitor said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/villagers-give-holy-turtle-royal-cremation-1447893297",
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