Editing Cockfighting (section)

=== Indonesia ===
[[File:COLLECTIE TROPENMUSEUM Hanengevecht TMnr 20027294.jpg|thumb|Confronting two cocks for ''tabuh rah'' ritual ''tajen'' (fighting) in [[Bali]], Indonesia, 1971]]
Cockfighting is a very old [[tradition]] in [[Balinese Hinduism]], the Batur Bang Inscriptions I (from the year 933) and the Batuan Inscription (dated 944 on the Balinese Caka calendar) disclose that the ''tabuh rah'' ritual has existed for centuries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2002/01/23/bali039s-cockfighting-tradition-lives.html |title=Bali-Cockfighting Tradition Lives |work=The Jakarta Post |location=Jakarta, Indonesia |publisher=Thejakartapost.com |date=2002-01-24 |access-date=2014-02-11 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140225114512/http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2002/01/23/bali039s-cockfighting-tradition-lives.html |archive-date=2014-02-25 }}</ref>

In [[Bali]], cockfights, known as ''tajen'' or ''[[:id:Sabung ayam|Sabung ayam]]'', are practiced in an ancient religious purification [[ritual]] to expel evil spirits.<ref>Bali Today: Love and social life, By Jean Couteau, Jean Couteau et al., pp 128–129, Kepustakaan Populer Gramedia, 2005</ref> This ritual, a form of [[animal sacrifice]], is called ''tabuh rah'' ("pouring blood").<ref>Bali, Sekala and Niskala: Essays on society, tradition, and craft, Fred B. Eiseman – page 240 – Periplus Editions, 1990</ref> The purpose of tabuh rah is to provide an offering (the blood of the losing chicken) to the evil spirits. Cockfighting is a religious obligation at every Balinese temple festival or religious ceremony.<ref>Bali, Sekala and Niskala, Vol. 2: Essays on Society, Tradition, and Craft, Fred B. Eiseman Jr.</ref> Cockfights without a religious purpose are considered [[gambling]] in Indonesia, although it is still largely practiced in many parts of Indonesia. Women are generally not involved in the tabuh rah process. The tabuh rah process is held on the largest pavilion in a Balinese temple complex, the [[wantilan]].

The American anthropologist [[Clifford Geertz]] published his most famous work, ''[[Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cockfight|Notes on the Balinese Cockfight]]'', on the practice of cockfights in Bali. In it, he argued that the cockfight served as a pastiche or model of wider Balinese society from which judgments about other aspects of the culture could be drawn.