Mircea Eliade

Even now, when the armourer is getting ready to forge a kris, the workshop is decorated as though it were a kayon, i.e. a holy place; the offerings brought before the work starts are like those brought for the ceremony of circumcision or marriage. At Bali there are initiation rites for apprentice smiths and while the work is going on mantras are pronounced before using each of the tools.

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Originally published in East and West, vol. 6, no. 3 (October 1955), pp. 206–215. Republished here with thanks.