instruments and accompanied by the Pawang. The latter heaped incense on a
brazier in front of him, and “waved” in the incense first the fiddle (rĕbab) and
then the masks, wooden daggers, and other “properties” of the company, until
they were well fumigated. He next lighted three tapers, which he charmed and
took between the closed palms of his hands (held in front of him), with the
fingers straight and the thumbs crossed. He then proceeded to “wave” these
tapers, pointing them first to the right, then in front of him, and finally to the left,
and then distributed the tapers, putting the first on the rĕbab, and the second on
the big gong, and the third on the edge of a brazen ring in front of the place
where he is sitting. He now reached for the betel-leaf box (which should be close
by), and dipping the tip of his finger into the moist lime which it contained,
smeared the metal all round with it, and made the sign of the cross inside the
ring. Next he shrouded his head with a black cloth, and taking a handful of rice
in his closed fist held it in the incense, sprinkled some of it over the brazier and
“charmed” it, holding it close to his mouth. Then he suddenly scattered it first to
the right, then in front, and lastly to the left, the scattering being in each case
accompanied by a single boom of the big gong.
FIG. 6.—Taper fixed on brazen ring used in same ceremony.The distribution of the rice being completed, he took four “chews” of betel and
handed one to each of the two drummers (juru-gĕndang); the third he threw on
to the top of the ceiling-cloth (or roof in the case of a shed, bumbong bangsal),
and the fourth he buried underneath the bottom mat.^191 With his head still
shrouded he now placed the tip of his right thumb within the metal ring, in the
very centre of the cross, called the Heart of the Earth (pusat bumi or hati tanah),