HE SACRALIZATION OF OGOH-OGOH IN THE CITY OF DENPASAR: SOURCE OF NEW FUNDING

Abstract

In Upacara Pasupati sebagai Media Sakralisasi, Swarsi (2008: 39) describes that ‘in referring to the beliefs of Hindus, in every creation of an object whether related to life, salvation, or welfare and especially related to rituals – surely through the stages of tattwa, susila and the religious ethics and traditions of each society and moreover in the making of a sacred object – the beliefs of the people are followed from the search for materials, to making the object, until the process of wood carving according to the applicable tattwa’. So, the sacralization process is based on religious belief to achieve salvation based on tattwa, ethics and ceremonies or rituals. For the ritual required for sacralization, as explained by Wandri (pers. comm., 2018), ‘the Lontar Mpu Lutuk describes that the daksina banten is upstream, banten dipeselang is for the body, while banten caru is for the tribe. Also, other types of offerings are needed such as kwangen and paspa sanggah urip which contain taledan, bananas, sugar cane, tape, fruits, chicken meat, penyeneng and sampyan among other materials. All of this requires funds associated with the ogoh-ogoh ritual; a minimum of Rp. 500,000’. If calculated based on the existence of at least two to three ogoh-ogoh in every desa pekraman, customary village in Bali, multiplied by a thousand villages, than every year two to three thousand ogoh-ogoh are sacralized. The question is: is the sacralization of ogoh-ogoh a source for garnering new funding for the people of the City of Denpasar and other areas. This paper presents the results from a study on this topic based on data from observation, interviews and documents analyzed through the lens of Talcott Parsons theory on the structure of social action and presented in a descriptive narrative manner