I Aget's Gift of Luck

There once was a man called I Aget who lived alone in a very old house, who made his living by fishing at sea and hunting in the forest. Early in the morning, he would go into the forest to hunt animals and return home just minutes before twilight to rest a while, before sailing the evening seas looking for fish.
One full moon night, I Aget pushed his sailing boat out into the sea, and rowed out while playing the flute. The waves were gentle, and in no time at all he arrived at a good fishing area in the middle of the sea. I Aget threw his fishing line over at a spot believed to be rich in fish.
After a short time he suddenly felt something pull on his rod. I Aget smiled happily, imagining a big fish eating his bait. He quickly drew his line in but was disappointed to see that he had only caught a coral sponge, which was dangling off his rod.
He despondently released the sponge from the hook and threw it back into the sea. He cast his line again into the sea with the hope that some fish would get hooked on his bait. Again something happened! His rod was pulled taut and I Aget immediately wound in his line and pulled his rod in only to suffer a greater disappointment, because there was only another coral sponge hanging off his rod.
Finally, I Aget felt so frustrated that he decided to move to another location. He rowed his boat with angry strokes to a different site where he expected lots of fish. He stopped his boat and started to fish. He waited a long time, but no fish pulled his line.
When dawn started to break, I Aget wanted to stop fishing and go home. Strangely, his fishing line was suddenly pulled taut, suggesting that a fish had taken the bait. He quickly wound in the line, but it was nothing more than another coral sponge. This time, instead of throwing it back in the sea, he decided to put it into his shirt pocket to take it home with him. On arriving home, he put it on his kitchen roof with the hope that someone would be interested in buying it from him.
I Aget wanted to go hunting in the forest the following morning. What a surprise it was for I Aget to wake up to see his house clean as if someone had worked all night and there was delicious food on the kitchen table. I Aget looked all over the house to find who had done all the cleaning, but he was only left more perplexed as there was no one there.
The same happened day after day. Eventually unable to contain his curiosity anymore, I Aget apparently left his house as usual, as if he were going to go hunting into the forest. However, instead of going hunting, he hid behind the bushes in front of his house.
Before noon, a very thick cloud of smoke came out of his kitchen. I Aget was surprised and thought that his house was on fire. Then, from the centre of the smoke, a very beautiful woman appeared, which made I Aget very startled.
He now knew who was helping him with the housework. The woman came out of the coral sponge that he had put on the roof. After she had gone into the kitchen, he quickly took the coral sponge to break it into tiny little pieces. Smiling, I Aget approached the woman who was busy cooking in the kitchen. She was startled and ran out of the kitchen.
I Aget followed her, and said while holding her hands. “Stay here.” The woman agreed and eventually they got married. I Aget changed his lifestyle and stayed at home with his beautiful wife and started tending his plantation, which he had so far neglected.
Because of their hard work, or maybe his wife’s sacredness, their crops were always good, and I Aget became the richest man in his village. (Retold by Gung Man)

Balineselife

”Tumpek Kandang”

It is not quite clear what the word tumpek means. In the Balinese Calendar, tumpek falls on a Saturday, when this day coincides with a kliwon day. This traditional calendar consists of six kinds of tumpek: tumpek landep, tumpek wariga, tumpek kuningan, tumpek krulut, tumpek uye and tumpek wayang, while there are 210 days to one calendar year.
Tumpek kandang is another term for tumpek uye. Kandang is a stable used to place cattle such as pigs, cows and foul such as ducks. It is usually located behind the house. On average, Balinese are interested in breeding pigs (or celeng in Balinese), for which they must have their own stables. So tumpek celeng, is the same as tumpek kandang.
As is the case with other Balinese holy days, tumpek kandang occurs once every six months in the Balinese calendar, that is on Saturday Kliwon Wuku Uye, the 22nd wuku of the 35 wuku’s existing in the calendar. The ceremony, performed on the occasion of tumpek kandang day is a realization of one of the five holy sacrifices contributed by Balinese Hindu adherents.
The five holy sacrifice principles, known among Balinese as Panca Yadnya, consist of rsi yadnya, manusa yadnya, pitra yadnya, bhuta yadnya, and tumpek kandang.  Holy sacrifice, in relation to tumpek kandang, is part of bhuta yadnya. Bhuta means living creatures, which according to Hindu beliefs ranks below human beings. The living creatures and plants belong to bhuta.
The aim of this holy ceremony of tumpek kandang is to preserve harmonious relations among people and balance with other creatures. Hindu teachings say humanity and animals have brotherly relations because all of them are God’s creatures. There are two ways to preserve this balance and eternity in the ecological environment including fauna, firstly materially and secondly spiritually.
A balance in the natural environment and conservation are achievable by maintaining and treating the environment, including animals, well. If humans decide to preserve nature in a physical sense, they should also maintain it spiritually. By preparing sesajen offerings on tumpek kandang day, the Balinese make a spiritual ceremony in preserving the environment. The sesajen they make depends on the number of animals and the reason why they are rearing cattle.
The more cattle involved, the larger the ceremony. Those rearing less than five pigs and with a non-commercial target, would make a small scale sesajen (nista level). The pig breeders themselves take the lead in executing these rites. If they rear pigs for a living, including tens or hundreds of pigs, the breeders will prepare a larger scale sesajen for tumpek kandang ceremonies and will invite a pemangku priest to lead the ceremonies.
Tumpek kandang ceremonies in Padang Kerta Village take place in a different way compared to other places. Usually, people, especially women, start preparing sesajen a few days ahead of “Tumpek Kandang” day. Due to Padang Kerta’s location in Ubud’s Monkey Forest these must be very large, and requires a tumpek kandang ceremony of the highest level or at least a good medium level. The villagers would be present at the site of the ceremony to perform common prayers under the leadership of a priest.
It is not the pigs but the hundreds of monkeys living in the famous forest that needs such attention. Locals maintain that they need to perform this ceremony because the forest attracts many tourists from both local and overseas markets, to the advantage of many of the local villagers. Consequently, tumpek kandang is one of the ways to establish close relations among God’s creatures, mainly in connection to animals. (Made Suambara)