Small krises from Sumatra

David · 17th September 2013, 08:22 PM

A nice collection of patrems. I especially like the first two. For some reason i really like this type of keris.
Forgive my ignorance here, but i have found so little written on these little blades. Is there a tradition in place of actually giving small keris to young children. Given one of it's traits as being a symbol of manhood that would seem odd to me. I would think it more likely that a boy would not receive a keris until he becomes a man, at which point it would seem an insult to present him with a purposefully smaller blade. Of course that goes right out the window with the idea of a keris for a woman, but at least these are adult women. It has been suggested to me in the past the the patrem is reserved for woman of a certain higher status (perhaps why we don't see a ton of them). Since i am interested in them and own more than a few myself i would be really interested in what anyone might have to add about the cultural application of the patrem.

17th September 2013, 08:22 PM	#3
David Keris forum moderator Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 7,218	A nice collection of patrems. I especially like the first two. For some reason i really like this type of keris. Forgive my ignorance here, but i have found so little written on these little blades. Is there a tradition in place of actually giving small keris to young children. Given one of it's traits as being a symbol of manhood that would seem odd to me. I would think it more likely that a boy would not receive a keris until he becomes a man, at which point it would seem an insult to present him with a purposefully smaller blade. Of course that goes right out the window with the idea of a keris for a woman, but at least these are adult women. It has been suggested to me in the past the the patrem is reserved for woman of a certain higher status (perhaps why we don't see a ton of them). Since i am interested in them and own more than a few myself i would be really interested in what anyone might have to add about the cultural application of the patrem.