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    27 views12 pages

    Geertz Triangle of Forces

    Uploaded by

    Medio Gris

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF or read online from Scribd
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    of 12
    In: Geertz, C. (1993 [1973]) The diterpretation of culaures, London: Fontana Press. 388 ‘THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURE becoming st the apex identical with them, but at the level of the there i literlly nothing left of identity but the tite itself, Al ‘goddesses are addressed and referred to either as Dewa (F. Dewiyor, for the higher ranking ones, Berara (i, Berar). Ina few eases, these general appellacions are followed by particularizing ones: Betara fora, Dewi Sti, and so fosth, But even sucl specifically i ies are not conctived a8. possessing distinctive personalities: théy are merely thought to be administratively cesporsbe, 30 to spe Zor regulauing certain matters of sonmie significance. fertiy, ower, knowledge, death, and soon, In most eases, Baliese do not byw, and do not want to know, which gots and goddetses ae those wérshipped in chee var tous teaples (there is always a pa, one male/one female), but merely fall em "Dena (Desi) Pur Sech-and Sug—god (goddess) of tm ple such and such: Unite the ancient Gregfs and Romans, the average Batinewe shows litle interest in the Details aside, the nature of time-reckoning this sor of calendar faci tates is cleariy not durational bot puncte. That itis not used (and could only with much awkwacéness and the ation of some ancillary deviees be used) to measure the rate at which time passa the amount sihich has passed since the occurrence of some even’ of the amount sihich remains within which to complete some project it is adapted to tnd ured for ditnguishing and clastying dteet,slfsubistent pat cles of time-—days.” The oles and. supecysles are endless, un anchored, uncountable, and, a their interna order has no significance, without climax. They do not accumulate, they do not build, and they te nat consumed, They dont tel you whet time itis; ehey tell you what kind of time ies 2 Beene the thiny-seven-eame cytes atu) which snake up the two hundred and enny perce ae nso mare, tey eam be, and commen) 7. used in oe {Rion with fives and leverday nar ao limiting the need co invORE ames From the sncname cyte, bat has merely notational ater the ten i ae the same, though the €aye of the (hrt” and Tory tron superchees a2 HOS Bbscres: Balinese devicer—-charts, Ist, rameriea! cakculaen. eneemonics—(0r ‘Baking estonia! setermiations 206 setting their meating afe bet complet {sd various, a there are ailerences ia techongue and interpretation between ie Senn sage. aod teioms of the sand. Pened calendars it Ball (al not ‘cy wibsiprentianorascn coteve to show a oa the Uk the day fo each oP the sen permutaing eves (ineitoleg the One that never changes) he day and Imonth in the kinarsoiae tviem; the Any the month. and feat i ike Gregorian {nd Namie calendars, and the day. moni feet a Year ame lo the Chine slendar—somplete with notation? of all the imparan tides Clow Cavictmas {'Gahingan tres variour ‘stem delice. For fllr discussions of Balinese cals {pie et od ter retios aang, soe R Oo ea and Hay aye inf L. Swelengrbel, ely Bull Che Hague, 1980, pp. 113-129, ropther ‘witha rlerease ied there. oe St More accurately, the dove they dafce tel you what tnd of tie it ‘Though the cycle and Superejles, Ginn cycles, we recuven, it Sot this fat: ‘Boutthem whieb is ated to of to which sanificance ts atached. The thi) 304 ‘THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES “The uses of the permutational ealeiar extend to virtually all aspects of Balinese life. In the frt instance, it determines (with one exception) all the holidays—that is, general community eelebrations—of w Goris ists some thirty two im all, of of the average about ene day ou: of every sever.% These do not appear, however, in aay discernible Gveratt enyinm, If ve begin, abitatily, with Radite-Tungich-Paing a8 “one,” holidays appear on days wumbering: L,2. 3, 4, 14, 15, 24, 49, 51,68, 68, 71, 72, 73-24, 77, 78, 79, Bi, 83, 84, BS, 109, 119, 125, 154, 183, 189, 193, 196, 205, 210.2 The result of this sort of spas nodic osarrence of festival, large and small, i a peteeption of time that is, of Gays~-as falling broadly into two very general varieties, full” and “empty”: days on which something of importance goes o and others on wich mothing, of at least nothing much, goes ony the former often being called “times” of “junctures” and the latter “hole [All of the other applicationy of the ealendar merely reinforce ard refine this general perception. ‘Of these other applications, the most important isthe determination nave, Foaytnon and two nunied sud enalay perigee, and en the Tbtctah hey Cetmarcate are ot orate ony very peripherally, pereiod a sch; Intcae the forte pls im theelemeatary poets, te eples rope, ‘thih generate theae—a et whieh bes mets Een bere by caling ef ‘her hhomhs! ad "yeh" a the ler "weeh" ft rope connotes 0 Rlowgl only the “Sys” which wealy miter and the Baise tense of time nat Imuct ve peal ue cvtive ie parulte With oval dys tere iSecnainarooumt of uhortrange ot vecy caret’ cahibated, Guratve teas. tient bythe pte beating of i-goct a ara pout earring, day. SU Aloce, and se‘on) of te dsnal sete and for sera elite Into rsks where ‘covidual contributions nave tobe rough balanced, by waterclocks. Bat eve this re inportrse gs conta to ther eaten apparats, Balinese horo logheal concept snd viens oe very undeveloped Tere Hlchdays and. Holy Daye pf, Not all of thee waidays ace sna, of couse Many of them ae ecebrte spy wath the fami ad gute Toutisely. what wakes them holiays hk theyre ecticl forall Balinese, [Sprsthine bot the ete or oe arte ef elebraions SShiu Tuer ates ef Souse: ubthptna reuting om the workings of the costes is everythin ath day a holga benef eerie’ By he ie {Sitio othe foetal seven me Eyles, Dut ec of the sheer serio ‘Sf age ures none, thepy here b some chaterig hele and ther. Goes ce Tanlug-Tongck-Poig the “ant day ofthe Halse. (hte i] yee! dor thus the dass a tne ft aps ol ot cespaive cyt, though foe sup (or may sou: Govt doen ep) be some ental basi or {Du rd no eeacnce thot the Bact fac m peeve (fa i any Gay eupied ac tometiog of what we wouls cance ee = temporal alee sould be Galungun umber eventyfour ir the shove reekoning). Bu even fhe Teas vey weakly devalopes ber like caer heey Calgan ety a= fea "ro poet Ge lines case. even paras te sree? Waser om 2Ekine idea on ny opinion, nevaahyto mene i pesomenoloiealy Person, Tinie, and Conduct i. Bal 305 of temple celebrations. No one kaows how many temples there are on Bali, though Swellengrebel has estimated that there are mere than 20,- 000.3" Each of these temples —family temple, descent-group temples, agricultural temples, death temples, settlement temples, associational temples, “caste” temples, state temples, and 40 on—has its own day of celebration, called odalon, 2 cerm which though commonly, and mis- leadingly, translated as “birthday” o, worse yet, “anniversary,” literally ‘means “coming out,” “emergence,” “appearance'’—that is, not the day ‘on which the temple was built but the day on which it is (and since it thas been in enistence always has been) “activated,” on which the gods come down from the heavens to inhstit it. In between odalans it ie quiescent, uninhabited, empty; and, aside {com a few offerings propared by its priest on certain days, nothing happens there. For the great majority of the temples, the odalan is determined ac cording to the permatetional calendar {for the remainder, odalans are determined by the tuzar-solar calendar, whieh ns we shall see, comes to about the same thing s0 far as modes af time-perception are concerned), again in terms of the interaction of the five, six-, and seven-name e)- cles. What this means is hat temple ceremonies —wbich range from the inotedidly elaborate to the almost invisibly simple—are of, 10 put it aildly, frequent occurrence in Bali, though here too there are certain days on which many such celebrations fll and others on which, for es- semtally metaphysical reasons, none do.29 Balinese life is thus not only irregularly punctuated by frequent holi= ays, which everyone celebrates, but by even mote frequent temple cel- erations which involve only those who are, asuslly by birth, members of the temple. As most Balinese belong to 4 half-dozen temples or mote, this makes for a fairly busy, not to say frenetic, ritual life, though again one which alternates, unrhythmically, hetween hyperactivity and guescence. In addition to these more zeligious matiers of holidays and temple festivals, the permctational calendar invades and encompasses the more SSwellengrebel, Bal p. 12. There Lemles ate ofall sites and degrees of se ices Sree tne ie Buren of acs Als sive atsuspeciocaly pret) Ate, ca 1955, of 4661 “large ap paren fe les for the land, ahseh, bowls by remembered. feat 2190 square ae, ow the ae of Delawse Sar & description of «fal blown odalan (aust of which lsc diet days rather than ut oveh see J. Belo, Batinese Tempe Fesivel (Lacon Valiy. Nov 1939) Agi edna sre oat comments coupe by the se ofthe i Father than Nei name ssi sogetter wine Mee Bhd evenenatne eles ee ate 30 THE INTERPRETATION OF CULTURES 96 secular ones of everyday life as wellat Thete are good and bad ¢3¥* [0 see rmsd a nouse, Jaunch a business enterprise, change residences Shion swig, harvest cfs. sharpen cock «PFS, Dol 8 PADD, show. of Bahn old days) start a as, ox conse a peas, The 00 which Fi sich again is nat abithday incur sense cen YOM 3H ar eae nen he was, Dore is

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