Bugis keris

[nechesh]

Originally Posted by DAHenkel

Still, I'd love to see people's reactions when you march into the bale of the Kraton Solo in full formal Javanese costume with this "Javanese" keris tucked into your kemben.

You're probably right there Dave, that would probably be a bit of a faux pas. However, how easy would it be for me to just change the dress of this keris before entering the Kraton and then change it back again on my return to the Peninsula. The blade remains what it is regardless of the dress. Recently i believe you or Kai Wee posted a photo of yourselves in Malay dress complete with your keris. You guys looked stunning. i might add. Add to this authentic dress the fact that you speak the language flawlessly and are totally emersed in the culture. Still, i have to wonder if when people see you there they think, "There goes a Malaysian man". At the end of the day you are still a human of the European gene pool dressed in Malay clothing. Nothing wrong with that, mind you, but you are still who you are. You can't deny or erase your origin, nor do i think you should try. IMO it is the same with keris.

Kai Wee, i cannot see how i can put the dress of a keris on an equal footing with the blade. If that's what you mean by going to the other extreme, it's too late, am already there. If i had just the blade it would not be at all unusual to commission new dress for it. Living outside the culture as i do i would probably choose to dress it most appropriately to the origin of the blade. If i lived within the culture i would probably dress it according to my own local custom. But have you ever heard of someone commisioning a blade for dress that had lost it's blade? That seems rather an unlikely scenerio. The angsar, the power that resides in the keris, resides in the blade, not the sheath. Yes, it is true that a keris is incomplete with a sheath, but that doesn't make the sheath as important as the keris itself. The dress can always be added. The blade, with it's angsar, is the heart of it all.
Actually, though you will find many well assimilated Americans, many will refer to themselves as African-Americans, German-Americans, Italian-Americans, Irish-Americans, etc., especially around the holidays that relate to their ancestrial countries of origin (try coming to Cincinati during OktoberFest and see how many people here are German). Note that in these configurations the ancestrial country comes before Americans.

When holes like this appear in the sogokan it is generally worn through from years of acid washing. These slits are so even though, that i suspect someone may have helped this process along with some additional filing. These are often confused with the mystical holes which Alam Shah refers to, know as cemplong (i have sometimes seen this written combong). Cemplong are clearly placed there by the empu and the owner of the keris is supposed to be able to obtain what he spys through the hole(s) while chanting the appropriate mantras.