When I had the idea of writing about my best moments in Bali, I had to find an angle otherwise I would have written a book (perhaps one day!).

I then thought about those magical moments that are unique to Bali and two themes emerged spontaneously: the temples and the ceremonies. So after a previous article of my favorite temples here’s one about the most beautiful ceremonies I have experienced.

NYEPI

The day of Nyepi marks the Balinese New Year. This celebration takes place on the day following the new moon of the spring equinox according to the Balinese calendar. This day is very special since it’s the only place in the world that celebrates New Year in complete silence, secluded in the house for 24h.

I wrote a tale about this ceremony in and my experience back in March that you can read over here.

GALUNGAN & KUNINGAN

Majestic ceremonies! Certainly among the most exuberant I have seen.

Galungan and Kuningan mark the beginning and the end of a 10-day Hindu holiday celebrated everywhere on the island. It’s the second in significance after Nyepi. The festival is celebrated every 210 days according to the Balinese calendar.

The day of Galungan celebrates the victory of good over evil. Balinese believe that during this holiday, the spirits of the ancestors return to Earth to visit them. All the temples overflow with baskets of offerings to honor the return of the ancestors.

An abundance of offerings

All of this abundance demands a huge amount of work especially for the women who are the ones in charge of making hundreds of offerings. They sit together and chat while cutting the banana leaves in order to make the baskets in which flowers, rice, biscuits and other snacks will be placed depending on the type of offerings. They work quickly and meticulously but without stressing or complaining. This is what I call devotion.

I was watching them and listening to them talking in Balinese and Indonesian by catching only a very few words until Komang would translate me the essence of their stories. The TV is on broadcasting a popular Indian soap opera translated into Indonesian. I understand practically nothing of what they say, but I”m able to deduce parts of it. At the end, it’s all about love and family stories destroyed by jealousy and betrayal.

The day before Galungan, I helped Komang to assemble some offerings. She prepared me a template that I could then reproduce. As each element has to be put in a specific way in the banana leaf, I had to be very meticulous otherwise Komang would quickly notice and correct me!

I was amazed to see how much care Komang and the women in general, put into this laborious task. Once we finished everything, Komang said to me: “I hope that my Gods will be happy!” They sure will recognize all of the love and effort you put into it!, I responded.

Offerings up to the sky – The penjor

Men on their side have the role of making the “penjor” which is placed in front of each house and erected on a specific day before Galungan. A penjor is a tall, curved bamboo pole decorated with coconut leaves and various decorations at the base.

The curved portion of the penjor represents Mount Agung, the highest mountain in Bali also considered as the residence of the Hindu Gods.

A small triangular box is placed in front of the penjor in which the daily offerings will be placed. The penjor is a way of saying “thank you” to the Gods and symbolizes the victory of good over evil. Even restaurants and hotels place this magnificent pole in front of their buildings.

Quiet and purified villages

In the village, at sunset, the famous barongs, a large sacred beast personifying the king of spirits and the embodiment of good according to Balinese mythology, are taken to the streets to purify the energy during a procession.

The energy is beautiful during this time. There’s a festive vibe with all the decorations and offerings everywhere and at the same time, it’s quieter than usual. Balinese spend most of their time visiting their families, schools are closed and so are several businesses.

It’ a very important period of rejoicing for Balinese. By honoring the Hindu Gods and their ancestors in such a hospitable way, they nourish their good karma and thus hope to receive good blessings and protection for their whole family.

I learned a lot about the Balinese culture and their values during this holiday. They are such self-giving persons and not only because of their religious duties.

While Komang was preparing offerings, it was not unusual to see an aunt or a cousin walk into her shop to greet her and when they were seeing her making offerings they would sit down to give her a hand for a few minutes.

After the ceremonies, the fruits and snacks from the offerings are kept and distributed among the family and friends. Komang always shares them with her family, friends, tourists and the guests who rent the houses she runs for her parents-in-law. 

CREMATION

Another fascinating and very important ceremony is the Balinese funeral ritual. This event allows Westerners to see life and death differently. Cremation ceremonies are seen as a ritual to prepare the soul of the deceased for its next life. Death is not seen as an end but as a temporary state until the soul reincarnates once again or finds its final rest (when the soul is liberated from the cycle of death and reincarnation, according to Hindu beliefs).

The death of a priest

When a priest dies (a person of a high caste), the ceremony takes place within a month at a propitious date determined by a priest (it’s the case for all ceremonies) and also when the family has raised enough money. Such ceremony costs a small fortune and of course requires significant time and effort.

On the morning of the day of the cremation, villagers gather along the road to pay tribute to the honorable priest who will be led in a majestic procession by his family and friends to the cemetery. The procession is absolutely impressive. The body is placed in a sarcophagus in the form of white buffalo mounted on a large bamboo platform carried by several men. The platform is so high that the pecalang, the policemen of the village, have to raise the wires with a pole to make it pass. Members of the family carry baskets of offerings and a gamelan orchestra plays traditional music. Once at the cemetery, prayers and rituals are performed by the priests and the families before burning the sarcophagus. It’s a solemn ceremony but not a sad one because again it is seen as the moment when the soul is released from worldly ties.

The death of a simple villager

Apart from the cremations of the high caste people, mass cremation ceremonies take place every five years in each village. The bodies are temporarily buried in the cemetery until the next cremation ceremony. Balinese believe that bodies must be burned, otherwise the path to reincarnation will be cut off.

I had the opportunity to witness a cremation in the village last summer when more than 50 bodies were burned. It is thus all the families concerned who help each other to prepare the ceremony and to share the important costs.

During the long procession, each family walks with an immense platform holding the sarcophagus in the form of a buffalo or with an elephant head, or in the form of a temple.

Women carry baskets of offerings on their heads while men hold yellow parasols on which is attached a piece of white cloth. Yellow represents the Hindu God Vishnu, the protector of the Universe and white is the color of mourning, peace, and purity. These umbrellas are also installed in the temples on ceremonial days, alongside the emblematic cloth of Bali, the black and white checkered pattern that represents the opposition between good and evil.

Again, the ceremony was not sad but somehow festive. However, I must say that at the end of the procession I unexpectedly starting to cry. I then realize that it was reminding me the death of my grandmother a few months ago. Emotions arose like if I was at her funeral.  But to see how death is celebrated and perceived by Balinese was very comforting.

WEDDING

Balinese weddings are no small matter! Balinese will tell you that a wedding is extremely expensive and very complex. It’s said that the woman not only takes a man as a husband but also his family and his village.

Each wedding includes three ceremonies:

• First, the family members from the groom side come to the bride house to ask permission to take their daughter to move to the groom house. While the priests and parents discuss with the bride and groom, a buffet meal is served to the members of both families.
• Then, on another day, another ceremony is held at the groom house to welcome the bride as a future new family member. It is at this point that the bride is officially leaving her childhood home to go live with her husband and his family.
• Finally, the wedding takes place at the groom’s house where family members, friends, and neighbors are invited. The religious ceremony is a series of gestures, blessings, and rituals performed by the priest, the bride and groom and their parents. No rings are given and no vows are exchanged like for western weddings.

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I only attended to two weddings, the last one was a few months ago. When I talked to the bride’s mother to congratulate her, she was telling me how sad she was to lose her youngest daughter. And yet the two very large families live in the same village at a very short distance apart.  But as she was saying, it’s not a matter of distance, but the fact that now her daughter is living with her husband and will be praying at his family temple.

Family life is very important in Bali. It also seems to be quite stifling and it’s not just me saying so, Balinese too. The newlyweds will not have much privacy. Most families live together in the same compound, where, like any Balinese house, everything is outside in a common area except for the bedroom which is the only closed room. The daily life at home is shared with the parents-in-law (for the bride), uncles, aunts, nephews, nieces, grandparents, etc. Families can be very large. In the bride’s family, they are more than a hundred people living “under the same roof”!

My friend Komang is lucky enough to live alone with her husband and two children, which is rather unusual. However, she’s rarely alone with her little family. During the day, her mother-in-law comes to spend the day helping her with the convenience store when she’s not busy carrying materials to nearby building sites. The father-in-law also comes to eat and shower, the uncle walks in to have his coffee, the nieces and nephews spent the day playing with their cousins. And on top of that, there are customers in the store, staff from the neighboring restaurants who order instant noodles, guests from the houses she manages to take care of and me… popping almost every early evening to chat. She has a very welcoming house as you can see.

Knowing more now about their culture and their values, I understand better their misunderstanding, or I should say their sadness in regards to my situation.  A woman of 39 years old living alone afar from a family and friends.  I’m on the other hand of their reality.  Between the two ends, I’m looking forward to finding my middle path.

Well, this is it. My (last?) chapter of my life in Bali.

Happiness and serenity,

Nathalie