dalang wears keris
dear Penangsang,
in my hometown, a (dalang) shadow puppetter usually wears a keris when he performs. some people believe that a dalang is not only an entertainer but also a guru.
still in my hometown, in my childhood there were thieves during the nights. for some people, live was not so easy at that time. they should do wrongdoing. for instance, if there was a thief in your rice grannary last night, you can distinguish what kind thief he was. If he stolen all rice in grannary, he was a criminal who was anti-social and immoral. If he just stolen 2/3 of your rice, the thief was, actually, a good person but he did it because of no other job to feed him and, perhaps, his family member. It was believed that the thief would only pick 1/3 of your rice to feed his family. The rest, 1/3, would be donated to others whom were poorer than him.
at that time, the aviability of policemen were few compared with the wide of the region. neighbourhood had an activity to guard their region. however, thieves were always one step ahead.
in pursuing to solve that problem, some people tried to have a keris or a spear-point, especially which had pamor "tundung".
warm salam,
OeS
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