Kerises in different cultural spheres
 

Greetings,

on many occasions we look at the kerises as cultural artifacts frozen in the time and place that gave birth to them. However, due to modern technology our appreciation of time and space has changed. - They are not the boundaries they once were. These days the keris has truly become an international phenomena (in the form of collecting and study) and they can be found on places as remote and alien to the original cultural sphere they originated in as this:

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w.../Snow/snow.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w/DSC01378.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w/DSC01377.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w/DSC01370.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w/DSC01368.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w/DSC01366.jpg

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...w/DSC01375.jpg

Yeah... Snow. Lots of it. Took these pics today and wondered how might the kerises be like if the Indonesian Archipelago would looked liked this a few centuries ago? :p

Do we want it or not the world functions as systemic whole leading to cultural change and interchange everywhere. The keris too is not immune but a part of this change.

Thanks,

J.

Forgot to say...

The location of above pictures is 100km from Helsinki, Southern Finland, EU.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...JM/Kuva6-3.png

Thanks,

J.

Looks like you're having a mild winter . ;)

While unashamedly an admitted novice on the keris, as an armchair student of history, I would think that given the "backend" religious factors driving the "front-end" cultural expression of the keris, it is a fair assumption the only realized difference resulting from a change in climate might have been in the materials (i.e., type of wood) used in creating the ukiran, warangka, & gambar. Snow did not keep the Hindu religion from flourishing in the Himalayas; and the same forms of weaponry with only slight-to-moderate variations may be found along a wide range of latitudes from mountain peaks of Nepal to the tropical southern subcontinent.

Of course, take my opinion for what it is worth: exactly what it cost... ;)



Now, on the other hand, if you're speaking of how the keris may have developed had it been indigenous to Finland, I think it might have looked something like this: :D


http://www.vikingsword.com/vb/images/misc/takouba.png

Sure... :D

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...DSC01384-1.jpg

You took that picture at high noon, didn't you ? :D

Nah, about eight o´clock in the evening or so after seeing yours. Decided to make a homage to it so dug the Keris out of it´s rest place, laid it against the window for a minute and took a a couple quick and dirty pics of which the shown was the best of.

I guess I am not much of a photographer Rick ;)

Best,

J.

Our Winter : :D

Amateur :D

LOLZ !!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

Beautiful wood grains! I love this keris! :)

Isn't the ukiran in a rather Malay/Bugis position? :p

If the keris were to have developed in Scandinavia, I bet it would likely have fur-coated sheaths :p :D

Our winter:- 25 June 2009 (middle of winter) at our place.

You have to rub it in, don't you Alan... ;) :D

Let's emigrate David !
Alan would love the company !! ;) :D

@Kai Wee ,
I just kind of like the way the handles look canted out a little ... :shrug:
A 3 luk Kelengan Sepang lurks within that wrongko . :p

Sorry David.

Couldn't resist it.

After all that snow I figured the page needed to be brightened up a bit.

Very funny Mr. Maisey.

http://i179.photobucket.com/albums/w...ark_South_.jpg

:D

That's just a tiny Grinner Jussi . :D

We have those leetle fellers over here in New England too :cool:

They make surfing a very interesting pastime .

Wasn't trying to be funny Jussi.

Actually, I like sharks. They make really great eating. I think my favourite fish for fish & chips is shark.

Being the kind, sensitive people we are here in the Land of Oz, we've declared a lot of types of sharks as endangered, and protected them. I'm not all that much in agreement with this, because it reduces availability of them for eating.

Another example of animal protectionism gone mad.

You see, we eat the sharks:- the sharks don't eat us.

Mako can be good if fresh .
Pointies are protected here as in AU. if I am correct.

BTW , what a Helluva Winter we've been having; major coastal erosion; and we don't have a heck of a lot left to erode !
I couldn't take the back road to Town; it was flooded out .

"Oh what a good game."

Rick

Just to take this conversation just a little bit further off the discussion of keris, sharks have THE highest levels of mercury of ANY fish you can eat. Just something to keep in mind if you eat it often. :shrug:

Funny, when I was a kid I had a vial of Mercury .
The stuff was fun to play with ...













Just a second !
That explains it . :D

Glad i wasn't drinking coffee when i read this... LOL! :D

:) i have a malay/indonesian pirate klewang in a fur-coated sheath. of course most of the fur has worn off now.

and david, one of the most expensive coffees comes from there, apparently they get a civert cat to eat the coffee fruits, and it poops out the beans and they charge a small fortune for them (kopi luwak). supposedly tastes heavenly, but as i've never had the pleasure, maybe some one else can comment :)

edited:
p.s. - from the reference wiki article in the para. above, kopi muncak may be possible here, we have a number of muntjac deer in residence on the neighbourhood farms where i walk the greyhounds, i'll have to leave out some unroasted coffee beans hidden in some fruit and see what happens. Kopi manusia is another possibility :D

Yes Kronckew. i used to sell coffee for a living so i am aware of this special brew. I haven't had the pleasure yet either... :)

one of my favourite stores in al khobar, KSA was the coffee store, it had bags and bags of beans on display in a rather large room of all different beans and roasts, you'd tell them which beans, which roast and how much of each and what kind of coffee maker you used and they'd grind them right in front of you.

i'd buy a kilo at a time of arabica in a half and half mix of 'italian' roast (darkest) and 'american' roast (kinda medium-dark). they did their own roasting. wonderful smelling store. wonderful coffee. much better than the pre-ground common muck you get in supermarkets.

i occasionally buy a bag of 'specialty' coffee beans at the local costa coffee bar and grind them myself. beans and ground coffee get put in the freezer till used to keep the flavour in. i use one of the french press coffee things, never a percolater.

p.s. kopi luwak was 'only' £26.50 ($40) for 50grams (1.76 ounces) at a place i found here that had it.

have we gone far enough off topic yet?

From a surface level yes, but no ;)
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...ion_map-en.svg

Keurig .




So hate me ... :p

http://futureupdate.files.wordpress....lons-swamp.jpg


:D

better than instant i guess....

Coffee is one of life's essentials.

I've had kopi luwak a number of times, in fact, one of my wife's relatives in Bali produce the stuff as a hobby, they've got some luwak (palm civet) in a big cage, they feed them the coffee beans and then produce the coffee.

As noted, it can be unbelievably expensive-- I believe that the wife's relos charge something like 7 million rupiah for it if they sell it--- but to my taste, its not really anything special. Its less bitter than some coffees, but if it was given to you blind, and you didn't know it had been through an animal's guts, you'd only think it was some different sort of coffee. Its different, but not better.

In Indonesia you can buy coffee in the supermarkets that is branded "Kopi Luwak", but its just a brand name, not the real thing.

I currently get my coffee sent to me by a small custom producer here in Sydney. I used to get a custom blend that was arabica, blue mountain, and peabody, and that was very good, but the blend they send me now is just as good, and a lot easier to get. Mostly I use a plunger, but occasionally I'll do stove top espresso. In the past I used to wait while the beans were roasted, then I'd take them home and grind them myself, but I've found that if I buy freshly ground coffee in a vacuum pack, and store it in the deep freeze section of the fridge, there is not any noticeable difference in taste.

the last bag of beans i bought was sumatran, it was quite tasty, i think i still have some beans in the freezer. the last bag of already ground i bought as an experiment was tesco's 'value range', the cheapest in the supermarket. it was also quite tasty, i was surprised. goes to show price is not everything. i must admit to using a dark roast instant in the morning when i am half awake and stumbling around trying to start my engines. there are two things that make life worthwhile, one of them is coffee...

I believe the very basic 'idea' of Kopi Luwak is the wild luwak would only pick the ripe coffee beans for his dinner. When the luwak is put on cage and feed by human, then the 'luwak-picked coffee bean' is gone.
I believe there is another method where people would herd the luwak through the coffee plantation and let the luwak picks the coffee beans.
Certainly, the luwak ingestion track would alter the coffee taste, but ripe coffee beans also important.

It is worth to note that a wood from coffee tree makes a good alternative material for keris sheath. It has mild brown colour and smooth grain.

Well, at least I mention 'keris' once :D

Very possibly Boedhi. Very possibly.

If kopi luwak from cage kept luwak can be sold for 7 juta, I wonder what the value of kopi luwak from wild luwak might be?

Imagine the difficulty:- treking through the coffee groves searching for luwak droppings. That's what we could call labour intensive.

Incidentally, I did try supposedly wild kopi luwak from Sumatra a couple of times. My memory of it is that it was no better and no worse than the stuff I've tried from Bali.

I feel a bit less shame . ;) :D

Diederich French Roast is our staple K cup .

Stumbled into this weird thread...

When will Nespresso present their special kopi Luwak cups :confused: :D

Ps.
What is "keurig" ?
In dutch it means : decent

Keurig is the name of this Dutch 1 cup kopi maker .
The name aptly describes the end product .. IMO . :shrug:


Well, if we are going to Snowmen now; let me express my sentiments about this Winter :

Auch !

Don't let my daughter see this.
You killed the snowman.
I bet you also let him melt down slowly... ;)

The faster the better my friend .

What Boedhi said about luwaks and ripe coffee beans got me thinking. I'd heard this comment from somebody else too, years ago, but had forgotten it. So I thought it might be an idea to follow up on what the wife's relos do with their luwaks and how they produce the coffee.

I've had the coffee they produce a few times, but I've never visited them, and only know what I've been told, that they keep the luwaks in a cage and feed them the coffee beans.

Funny the way things get lost in translation.

I got my wife to ring them and find out exactly how they run this kopi luwak hobby.

It turns out that the "cage" in which the luwaks are kept covers about 3 hectares (about 7 1/2 acres), and it encloses a coffee grove as well as some more or less natural ground cover.

The area is tended by 10 gardeners who look after the luwaks , the coffee trees, and the enclosure, and gather the luwaks droppings for processing.

So yes, the luwaks do choose the best and ripest coffee fruits to eat.

Even when kept in a "cage".

BTW gentlemen (and any lurking ladies :) ), the subject of coffee is never off topic in a coffee house. ;)