Tumpek Landep: ceremony for every driver

Bali is island of ceremonies and yesterday I had opportunity to get to know ceremony called Tumpek Landep.

Offerings are dedicated to things made of metal, especially cars and motorbike, which is more than appropriate as everyday we try to survive in this crazy traffic. Roads were full of cars and motorbikes decorated with colourful offerings are called sampian.

Early in the morning start blessings in the main village temple and afterwards are followed by smaller ceremonies in the family temples. Nowadays, the aim of ceremony is protection against accidents, bring luck and safety on the roads. But the origin goes deep into balinese past.

Ibu blessing offerings at family temple in Sukawati.

The origin of Tumpek Landep

Tumpek Landep (in high balinese language) has its origin in early ages of hinduism in Bali. One of the first metal-made objects was the keris (dagger) used in battles. Some of them were considered holy with special power and had important role during this period. As I’ve heard from people here, the keris symbolises sharpness, the original meaning is “to be sharpen in your thinking” and after performing Tumpek Landep people can fight against evil behaviour within themselves. 

I had accident once, some of my friends too, fortunately we ended up with few scratches. But many people get injured on the roads every day, accidents are more serious, so let’s hope we are protected enough against demons and evils, and nothing bad will happen. As we say in Indonesia: hati hati di jalan (be careful on the road)!

Pictures by my lovely friend Dominika Kun! 🙂