Tumpek in Bali

Tumpek is one of the most interesting of the coincidence dates. Tumpek occurs six times in every Pawukon and each of these dates is separately important.

Here is a list of the Tumpek days from an article I found in my archives. This will better help you understand each one's significance:

Tumpek Landep

The first Tumpek to take place every cycle is Tumpek Landep, the Saturday of Landep, the second week of the Pawukon. This is a day of offerings to weapons of war, particularly the sacred kris short swords, but also guns or other weapons. If a family owns such a weapon, on Tumpek Landep it is reverently unsheathed in the family temple, sprinkled with holy water, and presented with offerings of woven coconut leaves, flowers, and fruits. Incense and sandalwood are burned, and family members, a lay priest, or a balian - a kind of shaman - offer prayers. The balian will know the proper mantras for the weapon. Although originally specified for weapons of war the chief recipients of attention on Tumpek Landep today are motorcycles, trucks and automobiles which though certainly lethal weapons, seem hardly to be what the founders of Balinese Hinduism had imagined.

Tumpek Uduh

Tumpek Uduh falis five weeks later on Saturday of Wariga, the seventh week This day has many alternate names, including Tumpek Nyuh. This is a day to offer respect to trees particularly the coconut palm that are important to the livelihood of the Balinese. In South Bali the trees are dressed in traditional Balinese clothes complete with a headband, tlie udeng, a kilt-like kamben, and a special scarf, saput, as a belt. Then the tree is hit ceremonially with a hammer to notify it that offerings are nearby and to ask it to produce abundant fruit.

The third Tumpek is the most important partially because it is also a Kajeng Keliwon and partly because it marks the end of the most important of the regular religious ceremonies called Galungan.

Tumpek Kuningan

Tumpek Kuningan, usually called just Kuningan, takes place on the Saturday of the 12th week of the Pawukon cycle, which is the Tumpek's namesake. The activities of Kuningan - which comes from the word for yellow, kuning, because the turmeric in rice offerings gives them this color - is part of the elaborate Galungan ceremony.

Tumpek Krulut

On the 17th week Tumpek Krulut takes place taking its name like Kuningan, from the week of its occurrence. On this day offerings are made to the musical instruments, masks, and dance costumes used in many of the religious ceremonies in Ball. The instruments and other paraphernalia are decorated with coconut leaf offerings and holy water is sprinkled over them. Sometimes the members of the group that uses the instruments and the costumes and masks gather to pray and be blessed also. There is some variation to this practice. In some parts of Ball Tumpek Knilut is ignored and homage is paid to these objects on the last Tumpek of the Pawukon.

Tumpek Kandang

Tumpek Kandang, sometimes called Tumpek Andang, falls five weeks later on Saturday of Uye, the 22d week of the Pawukon cycle. The name comes from kandang, the Balinese word for the household animal pen because this is the day to honor domestic animals, especially cows and pigs, which are highly valued by the Balinese. The cows are washed, kambens, just like those humans wear, are thrown over their backs and special cone-shaped spirals of coconut leaf are placed on their horns. The pigs are usually just decorated by wrapping a white cloth about their bellies. The animals are given special foods, prayers are offered, and they are sprinkled with rice and holy water.

Tumpek Wayang

The sixth and last of the series, Tumpek Ririggit, or Tumpek Wayang, is again a Kajeng Keliwon and thus particularly important. Some areas of Ball use this date for making offerings to musical instruments and dance equipment. But this day is always the most important for the shadow play puppets, the wayang kulit. Many families have inherited puppets from an ancestor who performed them, a dalang. Of course, all dalangs have sets of them. The puppets are taken from their box, placed in position just as if an actual performance were being given and blessed by the owner. A dalang will remove all his puppets from storage - as many as 100 of them - and set them all up to receive the offerings. It is considered very unlucky if a baby is born on this date and if such an event should take place on this inopportune day, a special ceremony has to be performed in order to puri the child and protect it from harm.