Ceremony with keris gone wrong

Green · 1st November 2020, 03:57 PM

Some years back a tragedy happened in one of the states in Malaysia during a wedding celebration. A silat show ended with the death of one of the players when he was accidentally stabbed during the silat exhibition. Although rare this kinds of accidents do happen whenever keris (or any other sharp pointy things) are used in any form of 'sports' or ceremonies. .

In this youtube video of a Balinese religious ceremony a man in a trance stabbed himself . I guess usually the act of stabbing is either feigned and hence no hurt will come to the person or when in a trance he would genuinely stabbed himself but without getting any harm as his body would become 'kebal' during the trance. But not in this particular case.

Does anyone know what ceremony is this video showing? and possible reasons why this went wrong?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugWsSyS_MDs

David · 3rd November 2020, 04:29 PM

Hi Nik!
I believe this is a Balinese ceremony. This seems to be something similar to what is acted out in the keris dances (a part of the Barong Dance) a classic battle between good and evil. This does not seem to be one of the public ceremonies that are re-enacted for tourists though.

1st November 2020, 03:57 PM	#1
Green Member Join Date: Apr 2015 Location: Malaysia Posts: 312	Ceremony with keris gone wrong Some years back a tragedy happened in one of the states in Malaysia during a wedding celebration. A silat show ended with the death of one of the players when he was accidentally stabbed during the silat exhibition. Although rare this kinds of accidents do happen whenever keris (or any other sharp pointy things) are used in any form of 'sports' or ceremonies. . In this youtube video of a Balinese religious ceremony a man in a trance stabbed himself . I guess usually the act of stabbing is either feigned and hence no hurt will come to the person or when in a trance he would genuinely stabbed himself but without getting any harm as his body would become 'kebal' during the trance. But not in this particular case. Does anyone know what ceremony is this video showing? and possible reasons why this went wrong? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ugWsSyS_MDs

3rd November 2020, 04:29 PM	#2
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,127	Hi Nik! I believe this is a Balinese ceremony. This seems to be something similar to what is acted out in the keris dances (a part of the Barong Dance) a classic battle between good and evil. This does not seem to be one of the public ceremonies that are re-enacted for tourists though. Attached Images