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"Gebogan
Oblation"
Between the Offerings and Grandiosity
 Oblation
is a characteristic manifestation of offerings
by the Balinese to their God. This offering
is performed within a special festivity
called piodalan (temple festival) at either
sacred places like temple, family shrine
or at beach sides.
Amongst the many kinds of oblation for presentation,
gebogan is one of them that look so prominent
on account of its larger shape than other
ordinary oblations. The size of the gebogan
depends on the scale of festivity and where
it is held. In the smaller scale ritual
at family shrines, the gebogan is made in
smaller size on a wooden base called dulang,
while in the rituals held at temples (public
sanctum) the gebogan made is bigger and
more grandiose.
The haves will make a gebogan of which height
may reach one meter or even more. However,
for the have-nots it is usually made of
some 30-50 cm high. Its ingredients may
consist of assorted fruits and Balinese
cakes that are arranged in such a way that
makes it look attractive and appealing.
It is topped with canang (simple oblation)
and artistic ornaments made from young coconut
leaves.
The procession of carrying the gebogan to
temple is also exceptionally spectacular
and the more so accompanied with gamelan
orchestra that frequently comes in enchanting
spectacle for the passers-by where the temple
lies. The women of Bali, particularly the
selected young charming girls that balance
such gebogan, are walking in a single file
called mapeed.
The procession of balancing such gebogan
for the Balinese girls is a special task
since at the occasion the can show off their
beauty and fashion in front of the public.
For that purpose before joining the procession,
they should prepare their mental condition
and make themselves as beautiful as possible,
even some hours in advance they will go
to the beauty salon to make them look more
confidently.
How they behave and show their swaying movement
on balancing the gebogan in such religious
parade procession is the pure reflection
of the sincerity of woman’s heart,
Balinese Hindu devotees in revering the
greatness of Sang Hyang Widhi (Almighty
God) who has bestowed them prosperity. It
is said that on balancing the gebogan the
Balinese girls spread out their inner beauty.
Literary texts illustrate the existence
of Balinese women as a blooming flower at
courtyard (house’s belle) and flower
breezing fragrant scent and freshness.
Should you have an opportunity to watch
the mapeed procession you will observe the
combination of character and bhakti or devotion
of the Balinese to God in the grandiosity
of gebogan as a Balinese art and cultural
manifestation filled with aesthetical values.
Gebogan poses as a symbol of sincerity in
presenting the harvest proceeds to God on
the prosperity blessing bestowed to humankind.
Formerly, gebogan completely used assorted
local fruits. However, in the globalization
era as today affecting the life of the Balinese,
many imported fruits overwhelm the traditional
markets and supermarkets and are widely
used to fill in the gebogan.
Those imported fruits filling the today’s
gebogan comprise the New Zealand crispy
apple, American Sunkist, Mandarin orange,
European grape and many more. Similarly,
the Balinese cakes used for the gebogan
were formerly made from Balinese rice flour
but today it has been replaced with imported
wheat flour, cheese or margarine. In terms
of global socio-economic, the Balinese culture
of making gebogan oblation by using various
local and imported fruits as well as other
ritual ingredients can become a generating
wheel of the world’s economy and improve
the international friendship.
Even though a large number of gebogan’s
ingredients are imported, in terms of religiosity
of the Balinese, it does not diminish the
significance and function of such gebogan
as whole-hearted offering and implementation
of gratitude to God. The Vedic scriptures
affirm that sincerity constitutes the major
requisite within the execution of a ritual
and presentation," Whoever in sincerity
presents leaves, flowers, fruits or water
to Me, under laid by love and pure mind,
I will be glad to receive them (Bhagavad
Gita IX.26).
Harmonious
Relationship
The tourists, probably including yourself
who have visited Bali for several times
feel amazed when watching the Balinese make
the oblations in ritual activity of religious
ceremony. As ‘the Island of Thousand
Temples’ Bali is indeed never desolate
from religious ceremony. There is hardly
no day without ceremony in Bali, so the
name of Bali is then slipped into ‘wali’
meaning full of ‘religious ceremony’.
Such religious ceremony contains sublime
philosophical and ethical values as life
guidance for human beings in maintaining
harmonious life with the Creator, fellow
humans and physical environment. From here,
the art creativity flows and creates various
kinds of Balinese culture that have been
renowned to all over world.
So, make sure that during your holiday in
Bali you will be able to see a gebogan parade
as throughout the days in this month of
October there will be many temple festivals
held coinciding with the sasih kapat and
kelima (the fourth and fifth month in Balinese
calendar). Get divinity of vibration and
harmonious life from the Balinese ritual
activity.(Ketut Sumadi/Contributor of Bali
Travel News)
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