I’m off to a ceremony three-and-a-half villages away. Got the costume sorted—I even manage to wrap my own udeng (headcloth), albeit a tad wayward. “Cara Balian Kintamani!” (Mountain medicine man style!) a perceptive lay-anthropologist friend grins. To his dismay, however, I proceed to whip off the udeng and replace it with my ‘helm’: my token plastic shield against the Playstation-esque elements of the roads of Bali. “To ngudiang nganggo helm buin sube makamben!” (You don’t need to wear a helmet if you’re wearing a sarong!) another friend, clearly a road-safety expert, chirps. What my friend said to me is quite true—the authorities turn a blind eye to motorists not wearing helmets if they are wearing a sarong.
Historically, Indonesians in traditional dress were waived (not sure if this is law) from wearing helmets because it would mess up the women’s hairdos (sanggul), headscarves (kerudung) and the men’s head-cloths (udeng) or hats that Muslim men often wear when they pray (peci). The waiver sort of developed organically over the years and took exception to anyone wearing a sarong (or looking like they were going to some sort of ceremony!). However, the ‘traditional dress, no helmet’ clause in the law also doesn’t really seem to cover all the religions. Take Buddhists or Christians, for example. They don’t have a traditional dress when they go to pray—I’m not sure if this means they’re exempt or not. I suppose they just wear helmets when they go to church or to the temple or monastery.
Most locals I’ve talked to also believe that they are somehow divinely protected from having a fall when they are wearing traditional dress. Although, if you look at the road accident stats during busy religious holidays, the opposite is the case. It is in fact at these times that more road fatalities occur, often due to gory head injuries. Waiver or not, with safety in mind, more Balinese are wearing helmets when they go to ceremonies, especially if they have to venture out onto those treacherous Bali bypasses.
Vaughan Hatch has immersed himself with Balinese culture, living with locals in Bali since 1997. He speaks fluent Indonesian and Balinese, and is unashamedly addicted to playing gamelan. A linguistic, archaeology and publishing graduate, he works for indOKiwi ‘linguistic and cultural solutions’ in Sanur. Email him on contact@indokiwibali.com or call (0361) 8427030 for further queries.
