Critical Thinking about Balinese Culture, Potong Gigi, Tooth Filing Ceremony
Background Information:
The video in this assignment provides a rather recent look at a coming-of-age Hindu ritual performed on all Balinese girls and boys: a tooth filing ceremony. When a young man’s voice changes and a young girl begins her menstrual cycle, usually between ages fourteen and twenty-five, and before they marry, they present themselves at a tooth-filing ceremony, surrounded by family and community. In Potong Gigi (tooth-filing), a holy man guides the adolescents through a series of prayers and blessings designed to thank the gods for preserving the teens through childhood and to drive away any desire to embrace evil in their adulthood. The top six teeth only will be filed, symbolic of the six negative behaviors to be avoided: lust, greed, anger, drunkenness, confusion, and jealousy. Notice how ornately the adolescents dress, including wearing jeweled headpieces or those made from individual gold-dipped floral picks. Notice how each teen puts hands together as if praying, holding an object between the hands. This object, representing one of the negative behaviors, is then tossed away to symbolize casting off the negative trait that could lead them to evil. Using a different object each time, this blessing repeats for each of the six behaviors.
Once the blessing ritual is completed, small groups proceed to the area where the teeth will be filed. The filing will continue until the family is satisfied that all unevenness (imperfection) caused by life up to this point has been removed. Listen for the ever-present gamelan sounds; notice how the teens form a group; and notice how the neighborhood community (banjar) supports this group.
Instructions:
1. Read over the Background Information above regarding the Potong Gigi (Tooth-Filing ceremony) below, then watch the following video of it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=1&v=JkHU-f9uBbs&feature=emb_title
2. Write a 250-300 word essay reacting in a fact-based, objective way to the Potong Gigi Tooth-Filing ceremony.
3. Think critically (meaning be objective) about what you saw and heard, especially the ceremonial use of gamelan music; draw on what you have learned about in Chapter 7 of your textbook and Module 6 mini-lectures.
4. Some questions you might address are:
What are your thoughts about the ceremony itself?
Can you draw parallels between this coming-of-age ceremony and others that you may be familiar with?
How does music contribute to the ceremony (this will require some creative interpretation on your part and evaluation of any ethnocentrism)?
