A Lesson in Tea and Coffee

Tea and coffee are both drinks which inspire passion. More than just simple beverages, tea and coffee are part of a cultural phenomenon filled with social meaning and ritual. They both have fairly long, extensive histories—here’s a short look at them.

As old time legends have it, the origins of coffee can be traced to Ethiopia, where it grows copiously, and in the wild. Shepherds were apparently the first to discover its stimulating effects after their flock nibbled on some and couldn’t settle down for the night. Another ancient tale tells of a man who was shipped out to the desert to starve to death. In the desert, the man could only find the coffee plant, so he took chance, boiled it and lived. He then made it to the neighboring town of Mocha; the locals there thought his survival was a miracle.

According to researchers, coffee made its first appearance as a beverage in 1000 AD. Sufi monks, in Yemen, in the south of Arabia, supposedly made and drank coffee in their monasteries. Coffee was first brought to Yemen and Egypt through Ethiopia. The Arabians are the ones that get credit for making coffee, roasting it and brewing it, as we know it today. Coffee spread from the Middle East to the North of Africa by the middle of the fifteenth century. It made its way to Europe first through Italy; from there it went to Indonesia and soon enough it arrived in the Americas.

The Arabians weren’t keen to share their precious coffee beans; so in order to make sure no one else could grow them, they cooked or boiled the beans, making them infertile. However, according to one tale, an Indian by the name of Baba Budan smuggled out some fertile beans by taping them to his belly. This way, coffee arrived in Venice and spread all around Europe.

The Dutch began growing their own coffee plants and cultivating the beans in 1616 despite the Arab prohibition on exporting beans. Dutch coffee was thus taken to Java and Ceylon. According to historians, by the early 1700’s Indonesian coffee was being drunk by Dutchmen and women by the cupful.

Today, coffee is ubiquitous. You really can’t go anywhere without seeing it. The art of brewing the perfect cup is something that is prided by many.

Tea has a long and varied history too. It can be traced back to ancient China. The emperor Shen Nung is credited with discovering tea about 5,000 years ago. As a wise and learned man, the emperor passed an edict that all water should be boiled before it was drank. One day, while the emperor and his court were traveling, they stopped for some water. The servants set up the pot to boil it and some dried leaves from a bush fell into it, making tea. The emperor, always inquisitive, tasted the new concoction and was delighted. This was the birth of tea.

Tea became a staple in China. It became so entrenched in Chinese daily life that Lu Yu wrote a guide book about the beverage codifying cultivation methods and drinking traditions. The book became a classic amongst Chinese society.

The Japanese weren’t introduced to the beverage until the priest Yeisei brought it back to his homeland from China some years later. After that tea was big in Japan.

Europe came to know tea by way of a Portuguese priest who brought the drink back by way of the East in 1560. Since then tea has become very popular.

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Bali and Hinduism

Unlike the rest of Indonesia where the predominant religion is Islam, over 90% of Balinese are Hindus, although very particular practice a form of Hinduism called "Hindu Balinese" which blends a belief in gods and Hindu doctrines next animistic beliefs and worship of Buddhist saints.

Bali is a giant of Hindu mythology who, having been defeated by Vishnu, acknowledged him as supreme god.Bali threatened to destroy the gods and tried to proclaim himself ruler of the world.
Given this threat, Vishnu took the form of a Brahmin dwarf named Vamana-avatar, and asked the giant all land that could cover with his three steps, at which agreed Bali.

Thus, Vishnu suddenly becoming a colossal size, covered the earth with only one of its steps, in another step covered the distance between earth and sky. With the third and last of his steps would arrive at twenty hell and was at the time when Bali was recognized as the supreme God and worshiped him.Vishnu let him be ruler of the subterranean regions of hell or "kingdom of potatoes."In Hindu mythology, Bali represents the evil spirit cast into the abyss by Vishnu comes to earth once a year to exercise their evil power over men.

Until the fifteenth century, the Hindu kingdom of Majapahit ruled the territories of Southeast Asia, even to Madagascar. They maintained trade relations with Cambodia. The Hindu Kingdom was, in economic terms, very prosperous. The great known Gajahmada was then Prime Minister of the Kingdom.Hinduism quickly spread to the lands of the Kingdom, including Bali.

The Balinese Hinduism practiced thus continuing their traditions and culture. It is for this reason that Balinese Hinduism is not exactly the same as Hinduism in India despite the religion comes from this country. In Bali is called The Agama Hindu Dharma (meaning literally, Hinduism Dharma, universal law governing the order of beings and things) which means in fact a mixture of Hinduism and Buddhism. Mahayanna rudiments of Buddhism came to Japan, China and Korea.

Traditional Balinese Children Song

Back in a childhood days, my friends and I used to play traditional Balinese children game called “meong-meongan” or “the cat” game. It is a simple game, derived from the well known theme of a cat chasing a mouse. But this time I will not talk about the game but the song that accompanied this game. The game is accompanied by a simple a joyful traditional Balinese children song entitled “meong-meong” (free translation into English: “cat, oh cat”)

The song runs as follow:

Meong-meong alih je bikule (cat, oh cat, please catch the mice)
Bikul gede-gede buin mokoh-mokoh (the mice are big and fat)
Kereng pesan ngerusuhin (always making troubles)
Juk meng, juk kul, juk meng, juk kul (catch the cat, catch the mice, catch the cat, catch the mice)
Dije nengeng ditu nengkul (where the eyes open widely, there crouching)

Nglawang at Bali Art Festival

Art Center bali was filled with visitors. Men-women, young-old, and native-foreigners seemed never want to blink their eyes as if they did not want to miss a thing from this show. They were hypnotized. Wherever the show went then those people would follow it as if they were the part of this show.

Bali Art Festival does not just present Balinese handmade goods or Balinese culinary heritage but also performances that begin to be neglected. One of them is Nglawang. This show had been presented twice to re-popularize it to the people, especially to the Balinese children.

Nglawang actually is a Balinese tradition aiming to ward a village from disasters. This tradition is similar to Pangrebongan which is held in Kesiman village (see the article). Nglawang is usually held after Kuningan day in several villages in Bali but it becomes rare ritual to be held in the town nowadays.

Nglawang derives from word ‘lawang’ meaning door. Nglawang means showing sanctified tapakan (similar to statue made from metal or wood which is usually glorify and kept in one village) barong, from one door to another, from one house to another and from one village to another.

Nglawang nowadays develops to another function. This tradition changes to be a part of art show. Groups of people exhibit their unsacred barong, rangda, etc and demonstrate a procession of Nglawang to entertain the visitors.

This kind of performance was also conducted at Bali Art Festival XXX on June 28th by representatives from 5 regions in Bali. Every representative brought its barong, rangda, monkey costume and gamelan. Moreover their performances were accompanied by Pemangku (Balinese priest who officiate the traditional ceremonies).

Late in the afternoon, Representative from Jembrana, Karangasem, and Badung has ended their performance. Then representative from Bangli’s turn to conduct the core of this show in front yard of Ardha Candra. In the meantime, column of people from Tabanan began to walk around the Art Center. On the very back column, people who played gamelan followed. And that gamelan player was preceded by people who wore very scary barong, Rangda, and monkey costume who dance while walking as part of parade. In front of them there were six little girls who wore mask waving a very big ‘handkerchief’. The two men with red ceremonial umbrella walked after them And Pemangku guided them all in front.

Many children got close to Rangda or Barong and then took a photo together. Children were not afraid with Barong and Rangda because they caressed the children instead of frightened them. But, do not try this if you are in the real nglawang.

Next, they started entering the front yard of Ardha Candra where the core of nglawang took place. Many people happened to be there, waiting the last performance from Tabanan, although they had watched nglawang performance from other regions.

People who played gamelan and two men brought the umbrella parted from the column. The little girls started to dance. After that Rangda also began to dance and the musical accompaniment was beaten more andmore energetic. Barong entered the arena to fight Rangda. It made many more people came to stand around Barong and Rangda.

When Barong was fighting with rangda, a group of men entered the arena and stabbed their self with Keris while screaming as if they all were in trance. The actors were very good because that performance looked like reality. Some children became emotional moreover. “Oh no, that man near the tree is still in trance,” and another child screamed cheering Barong. “Come on Barong!! Those Rangda must be defeated,” A boy run to his parent and tell them what he already watched. Well, all people there were entertained and children got something new from those performance. Wishing that they can share their experience to their friends and this tradition will be known widely once again.

Barong succeeds to defeat Rangda. And the musical accompaniment stopped then, signing that performance ended. People gave their loud applause, thank to outstanding performance which had given.

Bali Supermarket Favorite

Bintang Supermarket is one favorite places for tourist, expats, and locals to buy their daily stuff.

Address
Bintang Supermarket
Raya Seminyak St.
Seminyak Village, Kuta
Badung District 80361
Tel +62-361-730552

Around the supermarket is as busy as inside the store, Raja Restaurant and Seminyak Cafe is on the same area. A small post office, Phone Shop, CD’s store for PC’s program and games are in the same building.

Other favorite is Bali Deli where many expats buy food, drinks, and bakery with an inside bakery coffee shop. They sell wine, sauces, and beers.

Bali Deli located near to The Villas and Prana Spa.

Address
Jl. Kunti 117X
Seminyak
(0361) 733 555