Tabanan, Rainbow over Ricefields

Pande Village in Tabanan

We will see an uncommon sight when entering the Pande village. All villagers, from children to housewives work continuously making iron household utensils everyday. They start working in the early morning when the cocks crow until sunset. Working without any time order and only taking a rest at night.

Understandably, this work is their only source of income. They live in Banjar Batusangian, about 25 kms South West of Denpasar. “In this village you will not find any unemployed people. Making knives is our routine activity. But, when there are rituals or ceremonies, these activity will stop for the moment in honor of the Gods,” said I Ketut Margi the head of pande family, in his residence in Banjar Batusangian, Gubug in Tabanan.
He then informed us of the 101 Kepala Keluarga (head of the family) existing in Banjar Batusangian, 96 of them are pande descendants who are talented in making steel household utensils. The rest of them are not pande descendants but also have the ability to make household nary temutik is done by 10 Kepala Keluarga. Blakas (axe) is made by 8 Kepala Keluarga, sabit (short-handled tool with a curve blade for cutting paddy, grass etc) is made by 7 Kepala Keluarga, taji (the knife which is used in cock fighting) is done by 10 Kepala Keluarga and the rest of the Kepala Keluarga produce various utensils. According to I Ketut Margi, the materials are imported from Java. This steel material is taken from unused vehicles.
How do they sell their products? “We never sell the product straight to the consumer because they usually visit our village,” he explained. The consumers come from Bali’s neighboring islands such as Sulawesi, Sumatra, Kalimantan, Lombok and Java. The price of each product is according to the quality and the shape. Sabit is Rp 5,000 in price, tiuk penuasan (kitchen knife) is Rp 2,000, golok (axe) and blakas (chopping knife) are Rp 5,000 without a glove, and Rp 30,000 complete with its glove, Rp 10,000 for temutik and Rp 100,000 for taji.
This village also has a temple so they can pray for safety while they are working. This temple is located in the north of the village well known as Pura Dalem Pande or Pura Kawitan Pande. Every Tumpek Landep and Purnama (full moon) kedasa (tenth), the villagers will stop working because they have the odalan (temple ceremony). This year, Tumpek Landep will be held on April 19th 2003. The people who pray at this time are not only the villagers but also from other areas such as Jembrana, Gilimanuk, Badung, Tabanan and Gianyar. All of them are also descendants from the pande family. (arsa)