Metuakan and Megenjekan
Metuakan, which is followed with magenjekan is often found in a few villages in the Karangasem Regency, on the northeast of Bali. Metuakan is a kind of small party with food and traditional drinks, called tuak or nira, a sort of cocktail party.
Tuak is drops of water from palm sugar or coconut trees made from a certain technique of using a mixture of coconut fibre or lau. The dishes that are often served are sate languan and lawar (slices of meat mixed with vegetables).
Metuakan, is often interpreted as having or producing a sound. It comes from the Balinese word metu, which means out, and wak, which means sound. Usually after drinking tuak, some will get drunk.
Metuakan is often done by farmers, after spending their days in the rice field. Usually in the afternoon, a few men will gather together to drink tuak and have fun. They really enjoy this time, even if they drink too much tuak. While enjoying tuak, some of them magegenjekan and the rest do macekepung. These entertainments need a male sound, only for cakepung do some use traditional Balinese instruments such as suling (flute), kendang (small drum covered with leather), and kempur. The rhythm of gegenjekan is much like tetabuhan (Balinese traditional instrument), like striking a gong, but mainly singing.
This is also enjoyed at religious parties or wedding ceremonies, another opportunity to entertain the bridegroom and family with metuakan continued with megenjekan. Gegenjekan is an interesting entertainment and has been recorded onto cassette. It has been included in many art events, like Bali Arts Festival.
The dishes for metuakan can be varied, at wedding parties or religious events some use lawar and sate, which is a mixture called karangan. According to I Made Dana, one of the public figures in Tanahampo, Bebandem, Karang-asem, the traditional food in form of number and kinds of lawar and sate in Karangasem are quite different with the other areas in Bali. Lawar in Karangasem, which is called one soroh or karangan of lawar,
are: lawar, anyang, anyang rah, gegecok, abang, sungga and vegetables, have the shape of ares (vegetables made from young banana trees) or star fruit vegetable.
Whereas, sate is divided into five kinds, there are sate nagasari, punggu, pusut/lilit, orob, and oret. The number for one karang is about 12 to 15 skewers of sate. For the area outside Karangasem, the kinds of lawar only consists of 2 to 3 kinds, usually red and white.
On a normal day, they use sate languan as the food. Sate languan is Karangasem’s traditional food, which is made from sea fish mixed with other ingredients such as flour or young coconut. This kind of food can be easily found at the traditional markets or small shops in Karangasem, where it is also possible to find tuak, so you too can enjoy the tuak and sate at a small shop.
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