Tjalonarang is often given in times of
illness, and on certain magically important days. But its performance
is not without danger, for its magical content may be a source of
peril as well as of protection. This fear attaches still more to the
shadow play version of the same story; for the Wajang Koelit, on account
of its great antiquity and its connection with ancestor-worship, is
magically powerful in a high degree. It will often be found that such
a performance cannot be given outside its own village because of the
terror it arouses. To set so much magic in motion, even through the
medium of shadows, is to court disaster. Very special and costly offerings
have to be made; but even money will not always overcome the reluctance
of the puppet-master.
A curious parallel, is to be found even in England in the widespread
belief among actors that ill luck attends a performance of Macbeth,
which an actor suggests may be due to the fact that the text of the
witches incantations is taken ,slightly paraphrased for the purposes
of blank and rhymed verse, from the old grimoires of black magic.
The verses, being directly evocative of evil, might be presumed to
attract ill luck to those having the temerity to quote them; and,
by a natural extension, to almost anything or anybody having to do
with a play with such diabolic associations."
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