"kalah jadi abu, menang jadi arang"

indonesian proverb

By 默默富酷

December 31^st, 2017

the brawl of my lunch

first published on my facebook on 30/12/2017.

"kalah jadi abu, menang jadi arang" - loser becomes ashes, winner becomes coal. in the case of tajen (cockfighting) - both birds lose.

while tajen has been banned since the 80s, this blood sport is still very much alive under the guise of tabuh rah - animal sacrifice practiced by the hindus.

the original concept was to offer blood of the losing fowl as a worship. tajens (cockfights) are usually held to celebrate the temple ceremony once every 210 days. tabu rah is technically not illegal as it is allowed under religious grounds.

when i visited this stadium, it was more rupiah than religion. this was one of the larger fight pits with more than 100 cocks waiting for their turn in this feathered gladiator colosseum. each fight day lasts for around 3-4 hours, with 10-20 fights scheduled, depending on the agreement of the owners and pit bosses.

i have been to several fighting sports but this is the first time that involved my lunch.

ps. this sport is part of the villagers culture for centuries. it may be uncomfortable for some. if you are squeamish about this, skip along and watch kitten videos on the internet.

the ring

the fight club was already filled when i arrived in the morning, the session lasts several hours with almost 10-20 fights.

the owners

some proud owners and their fighting cocks.

the negotiation

owners waiting for others to approach to negotiate a fight agreement. a fight could rake in millions of rupiah. if the 2 owners could not agree on a price, other owners and pit bosses can make up the price difference.

the blade

once the fight has been agreed, the owners will start taping and tying cockspurs onto the dominant leg. the spurs are long curved sharpened spikes around 3 inches long.

one of the pit bosses tying the cockspur while his handler calm the cock. he and his gang was rather tensed as this match had a lot of bets from the crowd. the opposing pit boss adjusting the angle of the cockspur, to ensure that a strike will introduce maximum damange to the other bird.

i saw several of these cockspurs plunge deep into opponent birds, so deep that the owners had to pull the blade out of the bird.

the wager

once the birds were paired, pit bosses will shout for bets. no fight will begin until their desired bet amounts were met. i am not sure how much was transacted but i saw rolls of red colored rupiah (100,000) being thrown around - and that is for a bet per person.

the fight

prior to the fight, the birds were placed close to rage them for the fight. only one bird will be declared winner and the fight will stop only when one of them is critically injured or died.

the aftermath

the pit boss who won a fight showed me his winning fowl. i think he won quite a bit of money in that round. in another fight, one of his birds won the match, but was bleeding heavily and had the same fate as his opponent - to be delegged and defeathered.

the fate of a losing bird - tossed to a corner where one of the pit workers will chop off the leg with the cockspur and defeathered the carcass for meat.

some win and some lose. the losers are always the cocks - either ended up dead or injured. it seemed the real winners are the pit bosses who were always holding a thick stack of cash.