1. BUILDING CEREMONIES AND CHARMS
Project Gutenberg EPUB3 edition
Skeat, Walter William
The first operation in building is the selection of the site. This is determined by an elaborate code of rules which make the choice depend—firstly, upon the nature of the soil with respect to colour, taste, and smell; secondly, upon the formation of its surface; and, thirdly, upon its aspect:—
“The best soil, whether for a house, village, orchard, or town, is a greenish yellow, fragrant-scented, tart-tasting loam: such a soil will ensure abundance of gold and silver unto the third generation.53
“The best site, whether for a house, village, orchard, or town, is level.54
“The best aspect (of the surface) is that of land which is low upon the north side and high upon the south side: such a site will bring absolute peacefulness.”55
When you have found a site complying with more or less favourable conditions, in accordance with the code, you must next clear the ground of forest or undergrowth, lay down four sticks to form a rectangle in the centre thereof, and call upon the name of the lords of that spot (i.e. the presiding local deities or spirits). Now dig up the soil (enclosed by the four sticks), and taking a clod in your hand, call upon the lords of that spot as follows:—
“Ho, children of Mĕntri56 Guru,
Who dwell in the Four Corners of the World,
I crave this plot as a boon.”
(Here mention the purpose to which you wish to put it.)
“If it is good, show me a good omen,
If it is bad, show me a bad omen.”57
Wrap the clod up in white cloth, and after fumigating it with incense, place it at night beneath your pillow, and when you retire to rest repeat the last two lines of the above charm as before and go to sleep. If your dream is good proceed with, if bad desist from, your operations. Supposing your dream to be “good,” you must (approximately) clear the site of the main building and peg out the four corners with dead sticks; then take a dead branch and heap it up lightly with earth (in the centre of the site?); set fire to it, and when the whole heap has been reduced to ashes, sweep it all up together and cover it over while you repeat the charm (which differs but little from that given above). Next morning uncover it early in the morning and God will show you the good and the bad.
The site being finally selected, you must proceed to choose a day for erecting the central house-post, by consulting first the schedule of lucky and unlucky months, and next the schedule of lucky and unlucky days of the week.58
[The best time of day for the operation to take place is said to be always seven o’clock in the morning. Hence there seems to be no need to consult a schedule to discover it, though some magicians may do so.]
The propitious moment having been at last ascertained, the erection of the centre-post will be proceeded with. First, the hole for its reception must be dug (the operation being accompanied by the recital of a charm) and the post erected, the greatest precautions being taken to prevent the shadow of any of the workers from falling either upon the post itself or upon the hole dug to receive it, sickness and trouble being otherwise sure to follow.59
[The account in the Appendix, of which the above is a résumé, omits to describe the sacrifice which has to be made before the erection of the centre-post, which has therefore been drawn from the instructions of other magicians.]
“When the hole has been dug and before the centre-post is actually erected, some sort of sacrifice or offering has to be made. First you take a little brazilwood (kayu sĕpang), a little ebony-wood (kayu arang), a little assafœtida (inggu), and a little scrap-iron (tahi bĕsi), and deposit them in the hole which you have dug. Then take a fowl,60 a goat, or a buffalo [according to the ascertained or reputed malignity of the locally presiding earth-demon (puaka)], and cut its throat according to Muhammadan custom, spilling its blood into the hole. Then cut off its head and feet, and deposit them within the hole to serve as a foundation for the centre-post to rest upon (buat lapik tiang s’ri). Put a ring on your little finger out of compliment to the earth-spirit (akan mĕmbujok jĕmbalang itu), repeat the charm61 and erect the post.”62
Another form of the above ceremony was described to me by a magician as follows:—
“Deposit in the hole a little scrap-iron and tin-ore, a candle nut (buah k’ras or buah gorek), a broken hatchet head (b’liong patah), and a cent (in copper). Wait till everybody else has returned home, and, standing close to the hole, pick up three clods (kĕpal) of earth, hold them (gĕnggam) over the incense, turn ‘right-about-face’ and repeat the charm.63 Then take the three clods home (without once turning round to look behind you till you reach home), place them under your sleeping pillow and wait till nightfall, when you may have either a good or a bad dream. If the first night’s dream be bad, throw away one of the clods and dream again. If the second night’s dream be bad, repeat the process, and whenever you get a good dream deposit the clod or clods under the butt-end of the centre-post to serve as a foundation.”
A magician gave me this specimen of a charm used at this ceremony (of erecting the centre-post):—
“Ho, Raja Guru, Maharaja Guru,
You are the sons of Batara Guru.
I know the origin from which you spring,
From the Flashing of Lightning’s spurs;
I know the origin from which you spring,
From the Brightening of Daybreak.
Ho, Spectre of the Earth, Brains of the Earth, Demon of the Earth,
Retire ye hence to the depths of the Ocean,
To the peace of the primeval forest.
Betwixt you and me
Division was made by Adam.”
Another rule of importance in house-building is that which regulates the length of the threshold, as to which the instructions are as follows:—
“Measure off (on a piece of string) the stretch (fathom) of the arms of her who is to be mistress of the proposed house. Fold this string in three and cut off one third. Take the remainder, fold it in eight and cut off seven-eighths. Take the remaining eighth, see how many times it is contained in the length of the threshold, and check off the number (of these measurements) against the “category” (bilangan) of the “eight beasts”64 (bĕnatang yang d’lapan). This category runs as follows:—(1) The dragon (naga); (2) the dairy-cow (sapi); (3) the lion (singa); (4) the dog (anjing); (5) the draught-cow (lĕmbu); (6) the ass (kaldei); (7) the elephant (gajah), and (8) the crow (gagak), all of which have certain ominous significations. If the last measurement coincides with one of the unlucky beasts in the category, such as the crow (which signifies the death of the master of the house), the threshold is cut shorter to make it fit in with one that is more auspicious.”65
The names of the “eight beasts,” coupled with the events which they are supposed to foreshadow, are often commemorated in rhyming stanzas.
Here is a specimen:—
I.—The Dragon (naga).
“A dragon of bulk, a monster dragon,
Is this dragon that turns round month by month.66
Wherever you go you will be safe from stumbling-blocks,
And all who meet you will be your friends.”