Bought me a keris

blue lander

blue lander

Joined
Aug 16, 2011
Messages
1,386
Anybody else have one of these? I picked this one up off Ebay They're an Indonesian/Malaysian/Philipines/etc dagger. The amount of magical lore and mysticism supposedly surrounding these guys dwarfs even the khukri. It's so well balanced it can stand on it's own.

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They call them swords but this one is really petit, maybe 13 inches total. I need to do more research to find out when/where this one came from. There's a cool little Naga by the hilt

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I have not idea what that is, never seen the likes before. Why the heck do I want one now so badly? Seems to be a pattern here me thinks.

That thing is actually standing on it's own, not stuck into anything?
 
I suppose it's leaning a little bit on its sheath, but no it isn't stuck to or into anything. If you search youtube for "magic keris", you can see a videos of them flying around the room on their own by magical powers. Which looks an awful lot like somebody's hung them from monofilament if you ask me, but whatever.

I really like this little fellow. If I knew what it's true name was it would jump out of its sheath and stand on it's own, or so they believe. I think I need to clean the blade to bring out the "pamor" pattern on the steel, but I need to do some more research on the proper way to do it. From what I read, the inside of the blade is steel but the outside is a mix of iron and nickle which gives it the pattern. Back in the day this metal was iron from meteors, but since contact with the western world it's mostly scrap metal from bicycle frames and whatnot. You could write a book about kerises and the legends behind them and barely scratch the surface. You have to keep them in their sheaths so their spirits don't decide to leave, for instance. And never have relations with your wife with an unsheathed keris in the room, or it might join in and then you'd never be able to satisfy her again.

They serve no practical purpose besides a weapon or magical object, though. I read someone tried to pry open a can with one and it snapped in half.
 
It's gonna have relations with the wife if it's unsheathed in the room?:eek: I changed my mind, think I'll pass on one of those.
 
Bawanna said:
It's gonna have relations with the wife if it's unsheathed in the room?:eek: I changed my mind, think I'll pass on one of those.
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What if the Kris is owned by a woman and she leaves it unsheathed in the bedroom? Will the Kris try to get into a relation with the Hubby which will be in for a lot of hurt then :eek:
 
I did read that women traditionally carried smaller kerises, but no mention if the spirit that lives in them, called khodam, swings boths way. Traditionally you don't buy a keris, you sort of marry. The money you pay to get it is considered a dowry.
 
Very cool! Even has a handle:D I read somewhere they were also used for execution. They would thrust them downward between the neck and shoulder toward the heart and the bend like large serrations would make a right mess of a person!
 
They make these things in all shapes and sizes, I think the executioner's one is much much larger. This one's so small and brittle the handle doesn't even fill my hand and I don't know if it would hold up to stabbing someone. Overall, this keris is very crude compared to most I've seen but the price was right. And actually I do like the way it feels in my hand and I think the little naga dude by the hilt is cool. I'm very happy with it. I've been using it to put curses on my coworkers.

Also, it smells really really good. It's very faint, I can't quite identify the smell. They're cleaned and treated with special oils and incense, supposedly the spirit is more likely to stay in the blade if it smells good. I don't have any fragrant oils or incense so I hope it likes Old Spice and pipe tobacco smoke.
 
Holy rusted metal, Batman! Might have astronomical voodoo value but I would be damned if I could find one practical use for it... Have to admit, looks badass :)
 
They use them in their martial arts, Silat. The edges aren't sharp, nor are they supposed to be, it's purely a stabbing weapon. They make straight bladed ones that look like more practical weapons to me, but these wavy bladed ones supposedly leave wounds that don't heal easily. Some supposedly have poison forged into the metal so it poisons your enemy as well. And of course some can jump up out of their sheaths on their own and stab people they don't like, or just magically kill you from across town.

Here's a Silat fight using kerises.
[video=youtube;p2fRM0nxhHQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2fRM0nxhHQ[/video]

And here's a flying keris.

[video=youtube;cv3aWLm1XCY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cv3aWLm1XCY[/video]
 
From what i heard, Kris are heirlooms and aren't meant for display. Most of these have frog poison layered onto it.

Well, Kris has a very specific application for what it is made for. I haven't own one but i wouldn't mind the Philippine version.

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The Philipino ones are much larger and useful looking than the Indonesian/Malay ones, but they don't have the pamor pattern in the steel which is what drew me to the one I bought. I'd definitely get a moro kris if I could find one for a decent price, but they're always several hundred bucks
 
Wow. I had to send that through google translate because meine deutsch ist sehr slecht, but you get the gist of it just from the picture.
 
ndoghouse said:
.. I read somewhere they were also used for execution. They would thrust them downward between the neck and shoulder toward the heart and the bend like large serrations would make a right mess of a person! ..
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IMHO you're so right but it's during the old times :cool:

blue lander said:
.. I did read that women traditionally carried smaller kerises ..
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Kerambit, Badik and Rencong were more popular among olden days ladies rather than Keris.

blue lander said:
.. but no mention if the spirit that lives in them, called khodam, swings boths way. Traditionally you don't buy a keris, you sort of marry. The money you pay to get it is considered a dowry ..
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That's also an old practices.
Anyhow It still being practice by certain group of people just like some groups of people who secretly practices witchcraft in the west :p

blue lander said:
.. The Philipino ones are much larger and useful looking than the Indonesian/Malay ones ..
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The Filipino's Kris is actually what we Malaysian called as Sundang.
Anyhow Peninsular Malaysia Sundang is smaller, shorter and narrower than Filipino's Kris.

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Jens Schuetz said:
.. http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/augenblick-schwertharmonie-a-932805.html ..
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That's in Bali, Indonesia whereby their religion still remain Hindu and IMVHO that's one of their religious ritual.

Keris is a pure close quarters fighting weapon!
Nobody use a Keris to cut a cake or to peel an apple or to slice onions or to cut grasses or to chop woods :D
Just like Jay, I also don't have any Keris in my collections :o

Just my two cents :)

mohd
 
Thank you for the "first hand" information. I posted a picture of my keris on a forum where they know about such things, and they told me it was a modern keris of very poor quality made for tourists. Oh well. Even if it's a piece of junk, I still really like it.
 
blue lander said:
.. Thank you for the "first hand" information ..
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Thanks Blue :o

mohd said:
.. I also don't have any Keris in my collections :o ..
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Anyhow I've seen many :)

blue lander said:
.. I posted a picture of my keris on a forum where they know about such things, and they told me it was a modern keris of very poor quality made for tourists. Oh well. Even if it's a piece of junk, I still really like it ..
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Henk said:
.. made for the tourist market. Real fakes. Sorry ..

.. If you really want a keris go to the keris swap forum ..
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Sometimes they got a WTS real Keris there, Blue :)
The time I got Dhaju the AK (i.e. my 1st real HI Khuk), I passed my Indian made tourist junk Khuk to my friend who just need a wall hanging Khuk :)

Dhaju the AK Khuk
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mohd
 
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