The mukur ceremony is extremely complicated, but is, in a way,
so similar to the cremation itself that a detailed description
of it would only result in a repetition of the ceremonies already
described. The same guests are entertained, similar offerings
and accessories are made, the same priests are engaged, ,and
a second tower (bukur) is constructed, this time tall and slender
and entirely decorated in white and gold. Again many orchestras
and troupes of actors arc engaged and pretentious banquets of
turtle and roast pig are served.
Great stages raised high above the ground are built at the house
for offerings and for the priest. The altars are higher and
more beautifully decorated than ever, the devil offerings more
elaborate than before, and the participants wear their best
clothes and jewellery, the women adding a band of white cloth
and a little fan of white paper worn on the head as a symbol
of the purity of the occasion. The ceremonies begin by the making
of new effigies identical to the adegans used for the cremation,
which are given life, blessed, purified by the priest, and then
killed " by being burned. The ashes are collected and placed
in individual coconut shells with a short stick through their
middle. These coconuts are then wrapped in white cloth, decorated
with flowers, and provided with a gold knob at the top, a gold
ring with a ruby, a string of about two hundred kepengs, an
image representing the dead drawn oil a sandalwood slab, and
a label of palm-leaf bearing the name of the person. This is
the sekar, a " blossom." a When ready, the sekars
arc placed oil silver platters, the relatives mike a ceremonial
reverence to them, and they are deposited oil the high stage,
which is now filledwith expensive silks and offerings. At the
mukur of the Radja of Djerokuta we saw glasses of foreign commodities
such as whisky, brandy, and gin.
After the night of vigil spent in watching dramatic performances,
listening to music, and so forth, the priest performs his most
powerful mantras, the relatives pray, and the sekars are brought
down, each member of the family placing one over his or her
head to absorb their beneficial influence. They are then broken
up, burned, and the ashes placed again in a new sekar identical
with the former. These are placed on the white and gold biers
and again a great procession starts off for the sea, of ten
miles away, with the same mad recklessness as when the corpses
were carried to be cremated. The procession stops a, the seashore
and the sekars are brought down, placed on a boat, and taken
out to the open sea, where they arc thrown into the waters,
far enough so that they will not be washed ashore. The biers
are again dismantled and burned. All the accessories are destroyed;
nothing must remain, and what is not broken tip is burned. Special
patrols are appointed to destroy whatever is returned by the
waves.
The ceremony over, the happy participants, now relieved of their
strenuous duties, take a general bath just at the water's edge,
the women unconcerned in a group just a few yards away from
the boisterous men, who play and splash in the breaking waves,
There is still the long walk home from the shore, and the crowd
returns in the blazing midday sun - hot, exhausted, and considerably
poorer than before, but in high spirits and happy to have accomplished
their greatest duty to those to whom they owe their existence:
the consecration of their dead so that they shall continue to
guide them as deities in the same way in which, as ordinary
human beings, they helped and protected them. All of this has
been achieved by the triple purifying action of earth, fire,
and water.