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View all search resultsImage Finder: Overcoming the Enemy Within
COMING OF AGE: The participants are showered in holy water
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COMING OF AGE: The participants are showered in holy water.
Words & Photos Anggara Mahendra
The metatah, or tooth-filing, ceremony is one of the rituals required for Balinese Hindus. It is a rite of passage in marking the transition to adulthood, and is conducted when a girl has begun menstruating and a boy’s voice changes for the first time.
The young men and women taking part in a mass ceremony in Denpasar, organized by Parisada Hindu Dharma Indonesia, are surrounded by their closest family members, because it is believed that it is at this time when people’s souls are most vulnerable to those hostile to them. They are wrapped in cloths bearing rerajahan (sacred images) as the ceremony commences.
The four upper molars and two canines are filed; they are symbolically known as Sad Ripu, representing six undesirable traits found in humans: to be lustful; greedy; cruel and angry; dissolute; confused and proud; vengeful and envious.
These traits are believed to become active during teenage years, when people begin to know the outside world. In the Eka Dasa Indria belief, the five senses and the sensations of other parts of the body also work more maximally at this time. In the traditional belief, Metatah is required to repress and overcome the undesired traits for the youths to become better human beings.
High Hindu priest Ida Pandita Mpu Nabe Baskara Murti Biru Daksa leads the ceremony.
The young people await their turn. The ritual is expensive if performed individually, but participants in the mass ceremony can contribute according to their individual means. 
LIFE CHANGING: A Hindu priest prepares the young people for the ceremony by symbolically drawing ancient inscriptions at the site of their senses, using twigs daubed in honey.
Among the young people taking part in the mass ceremony is Ayu Retno Anggreni (center)whose gesture signifies her willingness to receive the blessings of the priest and his mantras.
READY AND WAITING: The equipment of expert tooth filer Jero Sangging.
The tooth filing is performed on a young man.
NEW ATTITUDE: Ayu Retno undergoes the teeth filing...
... and is then presented with a head garland of strands of reeds, with a red and white flower in the center, that signifies her willingness to focus on Ida Sang Hyang Widhi Wasa (God).
