The Old
Balinese Era
At home and at work the Balinese like to be free of excessive
clothing; ordinarily the dress of; both men and women consists
simply, of a skirt called kamben, (the women wear an underskirt
tapih of Javanese batik or domestic hand-woven material, and a
head-cloth. The women wear this skirt wrapped tight around the
hips, reaching down to the feet and held at the waist by a bright-colored
sash (bulang) . Along scarf (kamben tjerik) in pale pink, yellow,
or white cotton completes the costume. Young girls love gay batiks
from Pekalongan, full of birds and flowers in red and blue on
a white ground, or hand-woven skirts of yellow and green for feasts,
but older women prefer conservative brown and indigo or black
silk enlivened by a green, yellow, or peach sash. The scarf is
generally thrown over one shoulder or wound around the head to
keep the hair in place, but it also serves as a cushion for a
heavy basket carried on the bead, or to wrap over the breasts
when appearing in front of a superior or entering the temple,
because, although the Balinese are accustomed to go nude above
the waist, it is a rule of etiquette, for both men and women,
that the breast must be covered for formal dress. This is purely
a formula and does not imply that it is wrong to go with uncovered
breasts; often the cloth is worn loosely around the waist, leaving
the torso free; but even modernized Balinese, who generally wear
a shirt or blouse, wrap the breast-cloth across their chest or
around their middles when they wish to appear properly dressed.
For daily wear the men also wear a kamben, a single piece of batik
reaching from the waist to a little below the knees, tied in the
front and leaving a trailing end that falls into pleats. The kamben
can be pulled up and tied into an abbreviated loincloth when the
men work in the ricefields. An indispensable part of the men's
dress is the head-cloth (udeng) , a square piece of batik worn
as a turban and tied in an amazing variety of styles. Each man
ties his udeng in a manner individual to himself, taking good
care that the folds form a certain pattern and that the end sticks
out just right. Conservative Balinese wear the udeng with a comer
high like a crest, but the young generation prefers small tight
turbans with the four points neatly arranged in different directions.
Children generally wear only a lock of hair on their foreheads,
but little girls learn feminine propriety by wearing a skirt many
years before the boys. Priests dress all in white and one can
recognize a high priest (pedanda, " staff-bearer ")
because be goes bareheaded and carries a staff (danda) topped
by a crystal ball (suryakanta, " the glitter of the sun"),
symbol of his authority.
It is unfortunate that new fashions in dress are introducing a
new sort of class-consciousness. Young elegant feel superior and
emancipated “from the old-style peasant class when they
wear a Malay sarong, a tube of cloth worn snug at the back, folded
in front in two overlapping pleats and held at the 'waist by a
leather belt. With the sarong go a pair of leather sandals, a
common shirt, too often with the tails outside, and a European
style coat. This is the costume of scbool-teacbers, clerks, chauffeurs,
and those in frequent contact with Europeans, who will, in the
long run, set the fashion for the rest of the population.
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