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Old 6th December 2010, 02:09 PM   #22
David
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Interesting and informative passage Shahrial. Thanks for posting it.
However, i must point out that nowhere does it even suggest that the smiths of Toraja make keris. The one reference to keris is that Seko smiths used forge patterns and techniques like those employed in the making of Javanese keris. So it doesn't even say Seko smiths made keris. It goes on further to say "Cool water and citrus juice solutions were used to moderate the red heat of the forged metal, as it is shaped into plow blades, ax heads, rice-cutting tools and ceremonial swords. The latter were loci of power and mnemonics for creation myths." I do not think that we can assume that "ceremonial swords" mentioned here are keris.
I have little doubt that "tourist" blades can be found in Toraja and are probably made there, and keris may be among them. Tourism is currently what drives their economy. In 1984 it was declared by the Indonesian government the official "second tourist stop after Bali". But my question still stand as to whether or not the keris is really a part of their culture as it is in other parts of Indonesia. We see two women holding keris in these public ceremonies which are specifically put on for tourists, but we don't see any other village member wearing a keris, and strangely (for me anyway), none of the men. One of the women hold a Javanese keris. We see a giant statue of a Torajan warrior with a strangely dressed keris at his waist, but this was obviously built in the latter part of the 20th century, again for the tourists i suspect, and when we look at an old photo from 1930 that actually shows 3 Toraja warriors with their weapons none of them are wearing a keris.
There are some interesting points made in the Wiki article i linked about the effects of tourism on the culture of the Toraja. How certain rituals have been emphasized over others and some lost all together based on the needs of this industry. It mentions how "the image of Torajan society created for the tourists, often by "lower-ranking" guides, has eroded its traditional strict hierarchy". So is our current picture of Torajan life completely accurate?
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