THE
COMMUNITY
THE MARKET
Important towns have great
utilitarian markets of cement and galvanized tin where shrewd
Arabs and Chinese keep regular shops of cloth and imported knick-knacks,
but the average holds market under the shadow, of the waringin
or under square shades of straw mats like umbrellas. A few people
sell there everyday; the " big " market takes place
every third day of the of religius calendar. There are "
market associations " organized in group of three desas that
work together, holding market in rotation every day in each of
the three villages. The women are-the financiers that control
the market; one seldom sees men in it. except in certain trades
or to help carry such a load as a fat pig. Even the money-changers
are women, who sit behind little filled with rolls of small change,
kepeng, Chinese brass coinswith a hole in the middle, worth a
small fraction of a cent (about five to seven to a cent according
to the current exchange). coins are strung into rolls of two hundred,
called satak (one string of twenty-five cents) . Prices in the
market vary according to the buyer; they are lowest to the villager
in his home town, slightly higher for the Balinese of other villages,
and considerably higher to foreigners. This is customary and understandable.
one takes, into consideration the communal spirit of the village
and of the Balinese. It
is significant that an average meal in the market costs a Balinese
only twenty-five kepeng or about two or three American cents.
The Balinese do not count in the present Dutch monetary system
of guilders and cents; among themselves they use only the smallest
unit, the kepeng, and the largest, the ringgit, big silver coins
(worth two and a half guilders) that are normally divided into
1,200 kepeng. The Balinese cannot visualize a foreigner using
kepengs and when I bought peanuts or a banana at a food-stand
and they did not have Dutch pennies for change, the women vendors
were amused to see me pocket a heavy string of kepengs. Accustomed
to dealing in hundreds and thousands, they have acquired a surprising
knowledge of mathematics, and the women can add, subtract, multiply,
or divide with the speed of an adding machine. To test this ability
we used to ask the women of our household for multiplications
of numbers of several ciphers; with mysterious operations of a
few kepengs spread on their laps, they always found a quick and
accurate result.
The market reaches its height
about noon, when it is bard to walk through the crowd of semi-nude
women. At that time the animation is very great and the market
resounds with the excited bargaining, the constant coming and
going of people, and the squealing of the pigs that are mercilessly
stuffed into baskets or carried in the arms of the women like
babies. The thousand smells of coconut oil, flowers, spices, and
dried fish combine to make the pungent smell so characteristic
of Balinese markets. The soft browns and yellows of the women's
skirts and the bright colored sashes they wear, the graceful movements
and unconscious beauty of their poses, make of the market a show
as interesting to watch as their luxurious and spectacular feasts.
The excitement subsides gradually in the late afternoon, when
the women return home loaded with the merchandise they have bought
or with the empty baskets balanced on one corner, in the most
absurd defiance of the laws of gravity, by the heavy strings of
kepengs that record the day's sales. Most markets have a little
shrine for the goddess of fertility and of gardens, Melanting,
alsothe deity of the market, to whom the vendors make small offerings
for good luck.
More on Bali community 1,
2, 3, 4,
5, 6,
7, 8
