Denpasar - Some 10,000 traditional merchants held a Padudusan Agung Ngenteg Linggih, a type of dedication ceremony, at the new Melanting Temple here on Wednesday, in hopes of protecting the market and attracting more boisterous business.
Melanting Temple, recently built in one corner of the Badung Market, was a collective effort of the merchants to show their appreciation to the gods and acknowledge their contribution to the prosperity of the merchants.
Located in the middle of Denpasar, the two-hectare area comprises of a large four-story building housing more than 3,000 merchants; it operates 24-hour a day.
Previously, merchants would pray at the location of the Melanting Temple on the night of the fifth full-moon every year.
"All merchants from the 15 markets in and near Denpasar presented offerings and prayed for prosperity and security at the market," said I Ketut Sudiasta, head of the event committee and director of Badung Market.
Sudiasta said preparations for the ceremony had begun a month ago, with many of the merchants contributing by preparing the banten (offerings) and other ceremonial items.
The merchants further contributed IDR 1.000 per person every day for six months before the ceremony.
"The total cost of the ceremony was about IDR 1 billion, so the IDR 1,000 contributions were made to ease financial burdens," he said.
Similar ceremonies in Bali tend to cost a lot, with committee members and attendees having to pay the sum in bulk.
"I`m glad the committee decided to let us pay in instalments, it made it so much easier to pay," said Anak Agung Sunari, 40, who sells canang (flower offerings) at Badung Market.
The major ceremony actually began on Tuesday, when merchants from the Denpasar municipality and the Badung regency walked around the market hoisting a 100-meter long white cloth, accompanied by a procession of offerings, banners and the gamelan (a traditional percussion instruments) in a ritual referred to as the Mapapada.
The merchants, dressed in traditional Balinese clothes, circled the Badung market area three times to mark the main ceremony as other merchants in the area began cleaning up their wares.
Ni Nyoman Puji, 65, who is one of the eldest merchants in Badung Market, recalled the disasters that had struck the market in the past.
On September, 2000, a fire nearly burned down the market as well as the adjacent market of Kumbasari, which sells Balinese souvenirs and clothes.
"I don`t want anymore misfortune. I prayed that the gods would not allow any other disasters to occur here and for the market`s security as well as a good profit," she said.
Source: TheJakartaPost.com
