Wayang
You were born in the wuku Wayang, week 27 of 30 of the Balinese Pawukon.
Wayang is the twenty-seventh of the thirty seven-day weeks (wuku) of the Pawukon, the 210-day cycle that sets most religious ceremonies in Bali. Balinese people mark their oton, the Pawukon anniversary of their birth, every 210 days on the same day of the cycle.
Source: F. B. Eiseman Jr., Bali: Sekala & Niskala, vol. I: Essays on Religion, Ritual, and Art (Periplus 1990), ch. 17 “Balinese Calendars”, ch. 9 “Rites of Passage”; E. M. Reingold & N. Dershowitz, Calendrical Calculations, Ultimate ed. (Cambridge University Press 2018), ch. 12
- Position in the Pawukon
- Week 27 of 30
- Title of God in this wuku
- In the Balinese lontar Tutur Gong Besi, God (Bhatara Dalem) bears the title Bhatari Sri during this wuku.
In the Tutur Gong Besi
- Tree
- cempaka (Magnolia champaca)
- Bird
- keker
- Kala of the wuku
- The kala of this wuku stays above: do not climb, and do not travel towards it.
They purify a troubled heart; their heart is pure and spotless, and in the end they grow rich and prosper. They lack neither clothes, food nor drink; devout, generous and humble, loved by many, noble and excellent in dharma. Like their cempaka, they know no sorrow and are loved by young and old; their bird brings them the love of the great, of friends and of kin. The lontar likens them to a lamp burning between earth and sky. The danger: a stab wound.
Our translation from: Tutur Gong Besi, lontar, transliteration (alih aksara), Pusat Dokumentasi Dinas Kebudayaan Provinsi Bali, “Nyan awatekan anut ring uku”, “Nihan paukonan”
Holy days in this wuku
Sunday (Wage) of Wayang is called Kalapaksa: it is forbidden to bathe or cut one’s hair, and thorny leaves are hung by doors and beds to keep away the spirits that would devour children.
Source: R. Goris, “Holidays and Holy Days”, in J. L. Swellengrebel (ed.), Bali: Studies in Life, Thought, and Ritual (W. van Hoeve 1960)
Tumpek Wayang, also called Tumpek Ringgit, falls on Saturday of this wuku. It is the most important day for the wayang kulit shadow puppets, which are taken out, set up as if for a performance and blessed.
Source: F. B. Eiseman Jr., Bali: Sekala & Niskala, vol. I: Essays on Religion, Ritual, and Art (Periplus 1990), ch. 17 “Balinese Calendars”
Notable days in this wuku
- Saturday: Tumpek · Kajeng Kliwon
These are the days when two of the Pawukon’s weeks meet: Kajeng Kliwon every 15 days, the other five every 35. They call for special offerings and prayers — some are held to be good days, some bad — and temple festivals and rites of passage are often set on them. On Kajeng Kliwon evil spirits are believed to be about.
Source: F. B. Eiseman Jr., Bali: Sekala & Niskala, vol. I: Essays on Religion, Ritual, and Art (Periplus 1990), ch. 17 “Balinese Calendars”; R. Goris, “Holidays and Holy Days”, in J. L. Swellengrebel (ed.), Bali: Studies in Life, Thought, and Ritual (W. van Hoeve 1960); E. M. Reingold & N. Dershowitz, Calendrical Calculations, Ultimate ed. (Cambridge University Press 2018), ch. 12
Birth in this wuku
Children born in the week of Wayang must be purified with a wayang performance of the Sudamala story: such a child is thought to be prone to illness or to harm from the demon-king Kala, and after the play the dalang, the puppet master, prepares holy water for the child to drink. Those born on Tumpek Wayang itself, the Saturday, are purified with the drama of Sapu Leger. A birth on Tumpek Wayang is considered very unlucky.
Source: R. Goris, “Holidays and Holy Days”, in J. L. Swellengrebel (ed.), Bali: Studies in Life, Thought, and Ritual (W. van Hoeve 1960); A. Hobart, U. Ramseyer & A. Leemann, The Peoples of Bali (Blackwell 1996), ch. 6 “Myth and the Artistic Tradition”; F. B. Eiseman Jr., Bali: Sekala & Niskala, vol. I: Essays on Religion, Ritual, and Art (Periplus 1990), ch. 17 “Balinese Calendars”