There are two traditional calendars in Bali in addition to the Western or Gregorian calendar.
The Hindu saka calendar operates on years from 354 - 356 days, is divided
into twelve months and is eighty years behind the Gregorian year, so 2011 is 1932 in the saka calendar.
Also in use is Wuku, pawukon or uku
calendar based on a 210 day lunar cycle ; these cycles are unnumbered. The wuku
calendar is magnificently complex, as the 210 days are divided into weeks that
are ten days long, nine days long, eight days long and so on down to weeks that
are one day long. All of these weeks run concurrently and have specific names:
for example the four-day week is called catur Wara, the five-day week Panca
Wara and each day of each week has a specific name. This means that every day
has a name from each of the weeks, giving ten names. To ad to the complexity, each of the thirty seven day weeks has its
own name. You may come across the names of the days of the three-day week,
pasah, beteng and kajen. They are often
used for traditional markets which operate on a three day cycle. You can
buy tika calendars to keep track of all of this, but the different systems
won't affect most visitors - they are used chiefly to determine festival dates
and other auspicious days.
The wuku Calender determines some Balinese
Holidays such as Galungan Day. Galungan is an annual event in the wuku calender which means it takes place
every 210 days. This year we celebrate on 15 July 2015. This ten -day festival celebrates the
victory of good over evil and all the ancestral gods are thought to come down
to earth to take part. Elaborate preparations take place: penjor - bamboo poles
hung with offerings -arch over the road, offerings are prepared and animals
slaughtered for the offerings. Galungan day itself is spent with family,
praying and making offerings. The following day, Manis Galungan is the day for
visiting friends. The final and the most important day is Kuningan, when
families once again get together, pray and make offerings as the souls of the
ancestors return to heaven. "Happy
Galungan Day": Hope we are more peace (peace at our heart, body, and earth)
Om santih, santih, santih, Om
Written in Sanskrit around the fourth
century BC, the 24,000 verses that comprise the Ramayana have since fired the
imagination of writers, artists, dramatists, theologians and sculptors right
acrossSoutheast
Asia. Like the other great Hindu epic, The Mahabarata, The
Ramayana has been translated into the classical Javanese Kawi Language and
transcribed on to sacred lontar texts.
It's essentially a morality tale, a dramatization of the eternal
conflict between the forces of good (dharma)
and the forces of evil (adharma). The
forces of good are represented by Rama and his friends. Rama is the hero of the
piece, a refined and dutiful young man, handsome, strong and courageous, who also
happens to be an avatar of the god Wisnu. Rama's wife Sita epitomizes the Hindu
ideals of womanhood - virtue, fidelity and love - while Rama's brother
Laksamana is a symbol of fraternal loyalty and youthful courage. The other
important member of the Rama camp is Hanuman, the general of the monkey army, a
wily and athletic ape who is unfailingly loyal to his allies. On the opposing
side, the forces of evil are mainly represented by the demon king Rawana, a
lustful and devious leader whose retainers are giants and devils.
The story begins with Rama, the eldest son of the king, being banished
to the forests for thirteen years, having been cheated out of his rightful
claim to the throne by a scheming stepmother. Sita and Laksamana accompany him,
and together the trio have various encounters with sages, giants and
seductresses.
The most crucial event in the epic tough is the abduction of Sita by
Rawana, a crime that inspires the generally easy - going
and rather unwarlike Rama to wage battle against his avowed enemy. A favourite subject for dances and
carvings, the episode starts with Sita catching sight of a beautiful golden
deer and imploring her husband Rama to catch it and bring it back for her. The
golden deer turns out to be a decoy planted by Rawana, and the demon king duly
swoops down to abduct Sita as soon as Rama and Laksamana go off to chase the
animal.
The distraught Rama determines to get Sita back and, together with
Laksamana, he sets off the direction of Rawana's Kingdom. En route he meets
Hanuman, the monkey General, who agrees to help him by sneaking in to Sita's
room at Rawana's palace and giving her Rama's ring (another popular theme of pictures and dramas). Eventually, Rama, Laksamana, Hanuman and his monkey army
all arrive at Rawana's palace and, following a big battle, Sita is rescued and
Rawana done away with.
THE MAHABARATA
Like its companion piece the Ramayana, The
Mahabarata is an epic moral narrative of Hindu ethic which came originally from
India
in the eleventh century. Written during the fourth century AD by Indian poet
Vyasa, the original poem is phenomenally long, with over 100,000 verses in all.
The Balinese version is translated into the ancient poetic and written on sacred lontar books kept in the Gedong
Kirtya Library at Singaraja.
At the heart of the story is conflict between two rival branches of the
same family, the Pandawas and Korawas, all of
them descendants of various unions between the deities and mortals. The
five Pandawa brothers represent the side of virtue, morality and noble purpose,
though they each have idiosyncrasies that are not entirely snowy white.The eldest is Yudhistira, a calm
and thoughtful leader with a passion for justice, whose one vice - an
insatiable love of gambling - nonetheless manages to land the brothers in a
fair amount of trouble. Then comes
Bima, a strong, courageous and hot - headed fighter, whose fiery temper and
earthy manner make him especially appealing to the Balinese. The third Brother
Arjuna, the real hero; not only is he a brave warrior and an expert archer, but
he also handsome, high - minded, and a great lover. Arjuna's two younger
brothers, the expert horseman Nakula and Sahadeva, are twins. Their rivals are
their cousins the Korawas, who number one hundred in all, and are led by the
eldest male Duryodhana, a symbol of jealousy, deviousness and ignoble behavior.
An early episode in the Mahabarata
tells how the pandawa boys are forced by the korawa to give up their rightful
claim to the kingdom's throne, and are banished unceremoniously to mountains
for minimum of thirteen years. The
pandawa brothers grow up determined to regain their rightful heritage.
Meanwhile, both families engage in all sorts of minor adventures, the best of
which recur in carvings, wayang kulit dramas and dances. A particular favourite exploit is known as Bhima Swarga, in which the second Pandawa brother,
Bhima is dispatched to hell to rescue the souls of his dead father and stepmother.While there, he witnesses
all sorts of horrible tortures and funishments
- many of which are graphically depicted on the ceilings of Klungkung's
Kertagosa. When Bhima returns to earth with the souls of his relatives, he's
immediately sent off again, this time to heaven, in search of the holy water
needed to smooth his dead parent’s
passage into heaven. This episode is known as Bhima Suci and features the nine
directional gods, as well as a dramatic battle between Bhima and his own godly (as opposed to earthly) Father, Bayu.
Finally, a full-scale battle is declared between the two sets of
cousins. On the eve of the battle, Arjuna suddenly becomes doubtful about the
morality of fighting his own family, and confides as much to his friend and
charioteer Khrisna. Khrisna, who is actually an avatar of the Hindu god Wisnu,
then launches into a long theological lecture, in which he explains to Arjuna
that the action is the all-important factor, not the result, and that because
Arjuna is of the warrior caste, his duty is to fight, to act in a manner that's
appropriate to his destiny. This episode of the Mahabarata is known as the
Bhagavad Gita, and encapsulates the core Hindu philosophy of caste, and the
notions of karma and destiny. Duly persuaded, Arjuna joins his brothers in
battle, and at the end of eighteen bloody days the Pandawa brothers are
victorious.
The state of trance lies at the very heart of traditional Balinese
dance. In order to maintain the health of the village, the god is periodically invited down in the temple arena to help in
the exorcism of evil and sickness-inducing spirits. When the deities descend,
they reveal themselves by possessing certain people and using them as their
medium. Sometimes the deities communicate in verbal form, which may or may not
have to be interpreted by the priests, and sometimes the whole physical being
is taken over and the devotee is moved to dance or to perform astonishing
physical feats. The chosen medium is put into a trance state through a
combination of special priestly chants and protective mantras, intoned exhortations
by the Capella choir, and great clouds of pungent incense wafted heavenwards to
attract the god attention. Trance dances are traditionally only performed when
the village is suffering from particularly bad about sickness or bad weather -
the versions that are reproduced at tourist shows have none of the dynamism of
the real thing. Though it is said that performers do sometimes slip into trance
even then.
One of the most common trance dances is the Sangyang Dedari( angel Deity ), which is widely believed to have been the inspiration for the popular courtly dance the legong. In the Sanghyang dedari, the deities possess two young girls who perform a complicated duet with their eyes closed and, in part, while seated on the shoulders of two male villagers. Although they have never learn the actual step, the duo almost in variably performs its movements in tandem and sometimes continues for up to fours hours. when they finally drop to the floor exhaustion, the priest wakes them gently by sprinkling holy water over them. In the Sanghyang Dedari performed at tourist shows, however, the girls have almost certainly rehearsed the dance beforehand and probably do not enter a trance state at all. They wear the same tightly bound green and gold sarongs as the legong dancers, and dance to the haunting backing vocals of an a Capella chorus of men and women.
In the Sanghyang Jaran ( Horse Deity ) one or more men are put into a trance state while the temple floor is lettered with burning coconut husks. as they enter the trance, the men grab hold of wooden hobbyhorse sticks and then gallop frantically back and forth across the red hot embers as if they were on real horses. The all male kecak chorus fuels the drama with excited a Cappela crescendos untill, finally, the exhausted hobbyhorse riders are awoken by the priest.
TOPENG : MASK DANCES
In the topeng or mask dance the performer is possessed by the spirit of the mask. Balinese masks are extremely sacred object, carved and painted with great reverence to the gods and spirits. Before every entrance, the topeng actor sprinkles holy water on his mask and recites a mantra. Women never participate in topeng. Female roles are played by men, and most actors play several characters in each drama.
The storyline of most topeng dramas are much more important than in most other Balinese Dance-Dramas. They usually center around popular folk tales or well known episodes from history, and every character wears a mask which makes him or her immediately recognizable. Refined and noble characters always wear full masks, usually painted white with almond-shaped eyes, and thick black eyebrows for the men. They communicate with elegant gestures of the hands, arms and head ( speaking is impossible because of the mask ), and move with rather grand, often swaggering bravado. A royal servant always acts as a narrator figure, speaking on behalf of the voiceless nobles, and he, like the coarser characters, the clowns and the servants, wears a half mask and baggy shapeless clothing in which to roll about the floor and engage in comic antics.
One of the most popular mask dances is the topeng tua, a solo performance by the character of an old man, a retired first minister, who recalls his time in the king's service. The mask is always shrouded in straggly white hair and beard, and the actor hobbles about with shaky legs and wavering fingers. Another classic tourist topeng is the frog dance - performed to the gloriously evocative music of the Balinese Jew's sharp or Genggong - which tells how frog turns into a prince. The Jauk is a masked dance of a slightly different nature, in which the solo dancer portrays a terrifying demon - king. His red and white mask has huge bulging eyes, horribly goofy smile and a thick black mustache, and his hands are crowned with foot - long fingernails which flashes menacingly throughout the dance. To the clashing strains of the full-blown gamelan who take leaps mischievously about the stage as if darting from behind trees and pouncing on unsuspecting villagers.
A great wave of artistic experimentation hit Bali in the 1920s, particularly in north Bali, where a group of young musicians started playing around with the traditional gamelan form. They came up with a vibrant and much brasher type of music, which they named Kebyar. The new sounds soon struck chords with musicians in the south as well, and by 1925 had also inspired the talented young dancer, Mario, to choreograph a new piece. He performed this dance while seated on the ground and so called it Kebyar duduk ( seated kebyar ). It's a stunningly camp piece of theater, starring just one man, who alternately flirts with the gamelan, plays the kettle gongs ( Trompong ) that are placed in front of him, and flutters his fan in beguiling self-dramatization. Some year later, slightly different version of this dance was invented, the kebyar trompong, in which the dancer sits and plays the trompong for only part of the performance, in between mincing coquettishly about the stage and making eyes at the audience.
KECAK DANCE
Sometimes called the monkey dance after the animals represented by chorus, the kecak gets its Balinese name from the hypnotic chattering sounds made by the Capella choir. Chanting nothing more than " cak cak cak ", the chorus of fifty or more men use seven different rhythms to create the astonishing music that accompanies the drama. Bare-chested, and wearing lengths of black and white check kain poleng cloth around their waists and a single red hibiscus behind the ear, the men sit cross-legged in five or six tight concentric circles, occasionally swaying or waving arms and clapping hands in unison. The narrative itself is taken from a core episode of Ramayana, centering around the kidnap of Sita by the demon king Rawana, and is acted out in the middle of the chorus circle, with one or two narrators speaking for all the characters.
Unlike nearly all other Balinese dances, the kecak has no ritualistic purpose and was in fact invented by a foreigner in the 1930s. When the German artist and musician Walter Spies was commissioned by a film director to put together a Balinese spectacle for the movie, The Island of Demons, he and his collaborator, Katharane Mershon, came up with the Kecak, drawing inspiration from the Sanghyang trance dances, in which the chorus chants the " Cak ....Cak...Cak " syncopation as part of the trance - including ritual.
LEGONG
Undoubtedly the most refined of all the temple dances, the quintessentially Balinese Legong is rather an acquired taste, which can seem tiresome to the uninitiated because of its restrained movement and lack of dramatic narrative. Its beauty is all in the intricate weaving of arms, fingers, torsos and head. The legong is always performed by three pre-pubescent girls who are bound tightly in sarongs and chest cloths of opulent green or pink, with gilded crowns filled with frangifani blossoms on their heads. When village elders and former dancers are selecting aspiring legong dancers, They look not only for agility and vitality, but also for grace and poise, as the spirit of the legong is considered the acme of Balinese femininity. As a result, Legong dancers have always enjoyed a special status in their village, a reputation that endures long after they retire at the the onset of menstruation. In the past, many a legong dancer has ended up as a raja's wife or latterly, as an expatriate artist's muse and subsequent partner.
The dance itself has evolved from a highly sacred sanghyang trance dance and take several different forms.By far the most common is the legong keraton ( dance of the court ), based on a classical twelfth-century tale from Java. It told the story of King Laksem, who is holding a princess, Rangkesari, captive against her will. Rescue is on the way in the form of Prince Daha, who plans to wage battle against King Laksem. The princess tries to dissuade the king from going to war, encouraging him to set her free instead of risking lives, but the king is adamant and setts off. As he leaves, he is attacked by a raven, an extremely bad omen, after which he duly loses the battle and is killed.
The performance begins with a solo dance by a court lady, known as the condong ( dressed in pink and gold ). She picks up two fans from the ground in anticipation of arrival of the two legong ( literally "dancer" ). Dressed identically in bright green and gold, the two legong enact the story, adopting and swapping characters with no obvious warning. The condong always returns as the raven, with pink wings attached to her costume. The final fatal battle is never shown on stage.
Featuring the most spectacular costumes of all the Balinese dances, The Barong-Rangda Dramas are also among the most sacred and most important. Essentially a dramatization of the eternal conflict between the forces of good and evil, the dramas can take a variety of forms but nearly always serve as ritualized exorcisms.
The Mythical widow-witch character of Rangda represents the forces of evil, and her costume and mask present a duly frightening spectacle. The Barong Ket cuts a much more love-able figure, a shaggy - haired creature with a bug-eyed expression and mischievous grin on his masked face, something like a cross between pantomime horse and Chinese dragon. The Barong Ket ( lion ) is by far the most common persona adopted by this mythical creature, but you might also see Barong Macan ( tiger ), Barong Bangkal (Wild Boar ) and Barong Celeng ( pig ). All Rangda and Barong masks are invested with great sacred power and need to be treated with due respect and awe. When not in use, the masks are kept wrapped in magic cloth and stored in the temple.
Barong - Rangda dramas can be self-contained as in the Calonarang or they can apper as just one symbolic episode in the middle of a well - known story like the Mahabarata. Whatever the occasion, the format tends to be fairly similar. Rangda is always called upon by a character who determines to cause harm to a person, a family or a village ( unrequited love is a very common cause ). She generally sends a minion to wage the first battles, and is then forced to appear herself when the opposition calls in the Barong, the defender of the good. In this final confrontation, the Barong enters first, occasionally joined by a monkey who teases him and plays tricks. Suddenly Rangda appears, fingernails first, from behind the central gateway. Flashing her white magic cloth, she harasses the Barong, stalking him at every turn. When the Barong looks to be on his last legs, a group of village men rush in to his rescue, but are entranced by Rangda's Magic and stab themselves instead of her. A priest quickly enters before any real injury is inflicted. The series of confrontations continues, and the drama ends in stalemate: the forces of good and evil remain as strong and vital as ever, ready to clash again in the next bout.
The Story of Calonarang is basically an embellished version of Barong - Rangda conflict, grafted on to an ancient legend about the daughter of a witch queen whom no one will marry because they're scared of her mother. The witch queen Calonarang is a manifestation of Rangda who, furious at the lack of suitors for her daughter, demands that her followers wreak destruction in all of the villages. This drama is acted out on a regular basis, whenever there are considered to be evil forces and impurities affecting the community, and sometimes the whole neighborhood take part, the men parading with hand-held kulkul drums and the women filing in to make offerings at the temple shrines.
There's also an unusual human version of Barong, called Barong Landung ( Literally "tall Barong ) These are huge puppets, one male and one female, each one operated by a single performer. The male puppet looks forbidding, his masked face is black and he has a fanged mouth and grimacing features. As a representation of the legendary Jero Gede, a giant from Nusa Penida who brought disease and misfortune to Bali, this enormous figure is also meant to scare away any similar giants. Jero Gede is always accompanied by a far sweeter looking female puppet, known as Jero Luh, who wears a white mask with a smiling face and faintly Chinese eyes. Together they act out a bawdy comic opera which has exorcist purposes as well
Most Balinese dance-dramas have evolved from sacred rituals, and are still performed at religious events, with full attention given to the offertory and devotional aspects. Before the show begins, a pemangku ( village priest ) will always bless the players and the performance area with sprinklings of holy water, and many performances open with a pendet or welcome dance intended for the gods. The exorcist Barong - Rangda dramas continue to play a vital function in the spiritual practices of every village and the baris dance reenacts the traditional offering up of weapons by village warriors to the gods to invest them with supernatural power. Some of the more secular dance-dramas tell ancient and legendary stories, many of them adapted from the epic Hindu morality tales, the Ramayana and the Mahabarata, that came from India more than a thousand years ago. Others are based on historical events, embellishing the romances and battles that characterized the royal courts of Java and Bali between the tenth and the fourteenth centuries.
With the advent of mass tourism however, it's becoming less and less easy to see a traditional performance staged in its natural environment, at a temple festival or village event for example, rather than as a commercial performance. Nonetheless, some of the tourist shows are very good, performed by expert local troupes with traditional finesse.
There are few professional dancers in Bali; most performers spend their days working in the fields or in shops, donning costumers and make-up only at festival times or for the regular tourist shows. Almost every Balinese boy and girl is taught to dance - small boys learn the most adept are then chosen to perform at community function, as part of the established local troupe. Dancers learn by imitation and repetition, the instructor often holding the pupil against his or her body and manipulating limbs until the exact angles and tensions are reproduced to perfection. Personal expression has no place in the Balinese theater, but the skillful execution of traditional moves is always much admired and trained dancers enjoy a high status within the village.
Female dancers keep their feet firmly planted on the ground their legs and hips encased in restrictive sarongs that give them a distinctive forward-angled posture. They express themselves through a vocabulary of controlled angular movement of the arms, the wrists, the fingers, the neck and, most beguilingly, the eyes. Each pose and gesture derives from a movement observed in the natural rather than the human world. Thus a certain type of flutter of the hand may be a bird in flight, a vigorous rotation of the forearms the shaking of water from an animal's coat. Dressed in pantaloons or hitched-up sarongs, the male dancers are much more energetic, and whirl about a lot, emphasizing their manliness by opening shoulders and limbs outwards, keeping their knees bent and their heads high.
Most dramas are performed in superb natural settings, either within a temple compound, or in the outer courtyard of a noble family's palace. Because the stories are so familiar to the islanders, the costumes and masks give immediate clues to the identity of each character-and to the action which is to follow. Some dramas are performed in a combination of contemporary Bahasa Bali and the ancient poetic Language known as Kawi, while others stick to modern speech - perhaps with a few humorous English phrases thrown in for the tourists.
Although most of the dances and nearly all the dances and nearly all the dance movements have long-established histories and traditions, Balinese dance is by no means a dead or stultified art form. In the last fifty years the repertoire has expanded quite considerably, not least because of the efforts of the island's most famous performer, the late I Ketut Mario, this superb dancer was also highly imaginative choreographer, adapting old forms to suit the modern mood, and most famously to fit the modern gamelan style, known as kebyar, in the 1920s. Thirty years later, he was commissioned by a British entrepreneur to create a new " boy-meets-girl" dance - The resukting piece was the oleg tambulilingan or bumblebee dance.
Oleg Tambulilingan Dance
BARIS DANCE
Baris Tombak Dance
The baris or warrior dance can be performed either as a solo or in a group of five or more, and either by a young woman, or more commonly a young man. Strutting on stage with knees and feet turned out, his centre of gravity kept low, the baris cuts an impressive figure in a gilded brocade cloak of ribboned pennants which which fly out dramatically at every turn. In his performance, he enacts a young warrior's preparation for battle, goading himself into courageous mood, trying out his martial skills, showing pride at his calling and then expressing a whole series of emotions - ferocity, passion, tenderness, rage - much of it through the arresting movements of his eyes.
Traditionally, the solo baris has always improvised a lot, leading the gamelan rather than following it. In its original sacred form, known as the baris gede, this was a devotional dance in which soldiers dedicated themselves and their weapons to the gods. ( To be continued.... )
Over ninety-three percent of Balinese Are Hindus, and
religious activity permeates almost every aspect of island life. In the
morning, the pavements doorsteps and shop fronts of every town and village are
graced with fresh little palm leaf offerings laid down for the gods and spirits
who need 24 hours propitiation; in the afternoon, processions of men and women
parade the streets en route to temple celebrations, towers of offertory fruit
and rice cakes balanced on their heads. This one of the description when there
is holiday and temple festival in Bali.
At the root of agama Hindu lies the
fundamental understanding that the world-both natural and supernatural is
composed of opposing forces. These can be defines as good and evil, positive
and negative, pure and impure, order and disorder, gods and demons, or as a
mixture of all these things - but the crucial fact is that the forces need to
be balanced. The desire to achieve equilibrium and harmony in all things
dictates every spiritual activity. Positive forces, or Dharma, are represented
by the gods ( dewa and Bhatara ), and need to be cultivated, entertained and
honored - with offerings of food, water and flowers, with dances, beautiful
paintings and sculptures, fine earthly abodes ( temples )and ministrations from
ceremonially clad devotees. The malevolent forces, adharma, which manifest
themselves as earth demons ( Bhuta, kala )and cause sickness, death and
volcanic eruptions, need to be neutralized with elaborate rituals and special
offerings.
To ensure that malevolent forces never take the
upper hand, elaborate purification rituals are undertaken for exorcism of
spirits. Crucial to this is the notion of ritual uncleanes ( sebel ), a state which can affect an
individual ( during a woman's period for example, or after a serious illness ),
a family ( after the death of a close relative, or if twins are born), or even
a whole community ( a plague of rats in village rice-fields, or a fire in village
buildings.) The island can even become sebel,
and island-wide exorcisms are held every new year (Next Nyepi celebration will be held on 21st March 2015) to restore the
spiritual health of Bali and all its people. More elaborate island cleansing
rituals are performed every five, ten and twenty-five years, climaxing with the
centennial Eka Dasa Rudra rite, which is held at the holiest temple, Besakih.
In addition, there are all sorts of purification rituals ( yadnya ) that a
Balinese must go through at various significant stages in their life.
The focus of every purification ritual is the ministering
of holy water - such an essential part of the religion that agama Hindu is
sometimes known as agama tirta, the religion of holy water. Ordinary well ar
tap water can be transformed into holy water by a pedanda ( high priest ), but water from certain sources
is considered to be particularly sacred - the springs at Tirta Empul in
Tampaksiring and on Gunung Agung, for example, and the water taken from the
lakeside Pura Danu Batur.
As the main sources of these life-giving waters,
Bali's three great mountains are also worshiped: The highest, and the holiest,
of the three is Gunung Agung, associated with the sun god Surya, and site of
Bali's most sacred mother temple, Besakih; Gunung Batur and Gunung Batukaru
also hold great spiritual power, as do the lakes that fill their volcanic
craters. From this concept comes comes the Balinese sense of direction and
spatial orientation, whereby all things, such as temples, houses, and villages,
are aligned in relation to the mountain, upstream, and is the holiest
direction; kelod is the downstream direction, the part is closest to the sea
and therefore impure.
Finally, there are the notions of karma,
reincarnation, and the attaining of enlightenment. The aim of every Hindu is to
attain enlightenment ( moksa ), which brings with it the union of the
individual and the divine, and liberation from the endless painful cycle of
death and rebirth. Moksa is only attainable by pure souls, and this can take
hundreds of lifetimes to attain. Hindus believes that everybody is reincarnated
according to their karma, karma being a kind of account book which registers
all the good and bad deeds performed in the past lives of a soul. Karma is
closely bound up with caste and notion that an individual should accept rather
than challenge their destiny.
Aside from the daily propitiation of the household spirits, Agama Hindu requires no regular act of collective worship from its devotees - no daily mass or weekly service - and so, for much of the year, Bali's temples remain deserted, visited only by the village pemangku and perhaps the occasion of the temple's anniversary celebrations, or odalan - a three day devotional extravaganza held at every temple either once every 210 days ( every210 days ( every Balinese calendar years ) or every 365 days ( the saka year ). With a minimum of three temples gracing every sizeable community in Bali, any visitors who spends more than a week on the island will be certain to see some kind of festival. Most temples welcome tourists to the celebrations, provided they dress respectably and wear the temple sash and that they don't walk in front of devotees as they are praying. For details on the major island wide temple festivals of Nyepi and Galungan, Kuningan. Although the majority of the other rituals - birth celebrations, toothfilling, mariage and death - that punctuate every Balinese Hindu's life also have strong religious ramiflications, most of these are conducted within the confines of the family's own compound, and are described in here
The larger, ealthier and more important the temple, the more dramatic the odalan celebration will be. Whatever the size, the purpose is always the same: to invite the gods down to earth so that they can be entertained and pampered by as many displays of devotion and gratitude as the community can afford. in the days before odalan, the pemangku dresses the temple statues in holy cloths, either the spiritually charged black and white kain poleng, or a length of plain cloth in the colour symbolic of the community begin to contruct their offering towers, or banten, and to cook ceremonial food.
Odalan celebration start in the afternoon, with a prossesion of women carrying their offerings to the temple. At the pura, the offerings are taken into the inner sanctum where the pemangku receives them and then blesses the devotees with holy water.Sometimes the gods will temporarily inhabit the body of one of the worshipers, sending him or her into a trance and conveying its message trough gestures or words. Elsewhere in the temple compound, there's generally some performance going on: the local gamelan orchestra play, and often sacred dances are performed as well, particularly the pendet or offertory dance and perhaps a barong as well.
The ceremony that visitors to Bali are most likely to witness is cremation ( pengabenan or palebon ). The Balinese believe that the soul of each person inhabits a temporary receptacle, the body, during each life on earth. Following death, this body must be returned to the five elements of solid, liquid, energy, radiance and ether to become ready for reincarnation. The lengthy and complex rituals, the magnificent objects and the spectacular burning itself make this the most picturesque manifestation of religious observance on the island.
Following death, the body is usually buried, sometimes for years, while the elaborate preparations for the cremation are made. Now days trend, families will often share in the cremation ceremonies of other families in one banjar. The entire extended family and banjar is involved in building temporary shelters for shrines and preparing offerings. Animals must be slaughtered, holy water acquired and gamelan organized. An animal-shaped sarcophagus is built from a solid tree trunk, covered with paper and cloth and decorated with mirrors, tassels and tinsel. The cremation tower, representing the Balinese universe, supported by the turtle, Bedawang, and the two naga, Basuki and Anantaboga, is also built, with tiers similar to the roofs on the menu in temples. A small bale at the base of the tiers houses an effigy of the dead person and the body itself, or just the bones if burial has previously taken place.
The event itself is joyful, accompanied by the soft music of the bamboo gamelan angklung. The sarcophagus and cremation tower are carried to the cemetery and twirled around many times. At the cremation ground, the body is transferred from the tower into the sarcophagus, which is anointed with holy water and set alight. The tower is burned in a separate fire. After burning, the ashes are carried to the sea or to a stream which will carry them to the ocean. A further purification ceremony takes place three days after the cremation, another at twelve days, finishing with the ritual of nyagara-gunung when the family take offerings to important sea and mountain temples.
The smallest unit of social organization in each village is the banjar or neighborhood. Each adult male on Bali joins the local banjar when he marries; his wife and children are also members but only the adult men attend the meetings.
The size of banjar varies enormously - the largest ones in Denpasar may have five hundred heads of household, while the small rural ones may have as few as fifty.
Typically the banjar meets every month in the village meeting house, the Bale Banjar, to discuss land issues, plans for future temple ceremonies, the local gamelan orchestra, latest government project and any problems relating to specific members. Although there is a head of the banjar ( Kliang ), all decisions are reached by consensus.
The Banjar has considerable authority, if residential land in the area is left vacant for a period of time, it will revert to the banjar for retribution to the members. If members neglect their duties they can be fined or even expelled from the village. This is a particularly powerful threat among people where communal life is at the heart of their existence. Expulsion also means the loss of the right to burial and cremation within the village.
THE SUBAK
Much of the daily life of a village revolves around the sawah, or Rice-fields, and numerous complex rituals accompany all the stages of rice cultivation encapsulated in the worship of Dewi Sri, the goddess of rice and prosperity.
The local organization in charge of each irrigation system is the subak; these are known to have existed on Bali since the nine century, and are made up of all the farmers who use the water in that system, along with detailed planning to ensure that every farmer gets the water he needs, is co-ordinate by the kliang Subak. Any subak with plans that may influence the irrigation system, such as changing dry field to wet, or causing conflict with another subak, has to consult the regional water temples and ultimately, the Jero Gede, Chief priest of Pura Ulun Danu Batur, whose decision at island level is final.
The Subak Museum, on the eastern outskirts of Tabanan, is well worth a visit for more information on this unique aspect of Balinese life.
On Bali, rituals and ceremonies are carried out at important points in an individual's life to purify them, and make sure they have sufficient spiritual energy to remain healthy and calm.
The first life-cycle ritual, megedong-gegongan, take places about six months after conception, when the fetus has a definite human form, and the ritual emphasizes the hope of a long healthy life for the child. Subsequent birth rituals focus on the placenta (ari -ari ), which is washed and buried inside a coconut wrapped in sacred white cloth near the gateway of the parents household. A rock is placed over the spot to protect it, and regular offerings are made there.
Following the birth of a baby, the parents and child are regarded as unclean ( Sebel ), and can not participate in religious practices. For the mother and baby this lasts 42 days, for the father it lasts until the baby's umbilical cord drop off, when the kepus pungsed ritual is carried out. The cord is wrapped in cloth, placed in an offering shaped like a dove and suspended over the baby's bed, along with small shrine dedicated to Sanghyang Panca Kumara, son of Siwa. Twelve days after birth, the ceremony of ngelepas hawon take place with offerings made for the baby in the kitchen, the well and the family temple, but this is less important than the tutug kambuhan, 42 days after the birth, which marks the end of the sebel period for the mother. After 105 days, telu bulan is large, often elaborate ceremony at which the child is named, and may be given an amulet to guard against evil spirits.
The child's firts birthday, oton, occurs after 210 days ( A Balinese year according to the wuku calendar), and is celebrated with much feasting. It may be accompanied by a ritual hair cutting ceremony. The next ceremony, meketus, takes place when the child's milk teeth fall out. Prayers are offered to the god to ensure that the adult teeth will be strong. Sanghyang Kumara is sent away as the child's protector, and the child is now guarded by the family ancestors.
The next life-cycle ceremonies occur at Puberty, with manggah daa rituals for a girl and manggah teruna for the boy, although the male ritual is often omitted. The tooth-filing ritual, mapandes, takes place between six and eighteen years of age, preferably before marriage, but after puberty for girls, and lavish offerings. It is considered to be an absolutely vital ritual, and the elderly, and even the dead, have been known to have their teeth filed. the aim of the ritual is to remove any hint of coarse, uncontrolled behaviour from the person by filing down the upper canine teeth or fangs - Caling, as the Balinese call them - and the four teeth in between; six in total. Ritual are also performed to rid the person of lust, greed, anger, drunken-ness, confusion and jealousy, in order that the person will lead a better life and be assured a more favourable reincarnation.
Marriage, pawiwahan or nganten, is final life-cycle ceremony for most Balinese. There are two options when getting married. The most correct is mamadik, when the marriage is agreed between the two sets of parents and a huge financial outlay for ceremonies is involved. Much more common is ngerorod or malaib, elopement. The man and woman run off and spend the night together, not so secretly that nobody knows, but with sufficient subterfuge that the girl's parents can pretend to be outraged. The following morning simple, private ceremony ( Makala-kalaan ) is carried out, and the couple are married. Frequently, rather more elaborate rituals and reception are hosted later the same day by the boy's parents. The girl's parents will not be invited as there is supposed to be bad feeling between the two sides. However, three days later the two sets of parents meet at the ketipat bantal ceremony and are reconciled.
Each Balinese household consist of several structures all built within a confining wall, with variations depending on the caste and wealth of the family. When a son of the family marries, his wife will usually move into his compound, so there are frequently several generations living within the same area, each with their own sleeping quarters, but otherwise sharing the facilities. Given the climate, most domestic take place outside or in the partial shelter of Bale, raised platforms supported by wooden pillars, with a roof traditionally thatched with local grass ( alang - alang ). Outside the kelod ( South ) wall, families have their garbage tip and pig pens. The different structures of the compound are believed to reflect the human body _ the family shrine is the head, the bale are the arm, the courtyard is the navel, the kitchen and the rice barn are the legs and feet and the garbage tip is the anus.
When designing and building a compound, a set of rules laid down in ancient texts must be adhered to. The architect or the master builder ( Undagi ) take a series of Measurements from the body of the head of the household. For the walls of the compound he needs to measure the distance between the tips of the middle fingers with the arms stretched out sideways, the distance from the elbow to the tip of the middle finger, and the width of the fist with the thumb strectched out. All these measurements are added together to give a unit length, the depa asti musti, and the texts specify how many of these lengths are suitable for different types of compound, location for which caste. The Bale daja, the sleeping quarters of thehead of the household, are sited first, in relation to the kaja wall, and then the other structures positioned in relation to this.
Prior to calling the undagi, the prospective householder also consults an expert in the Balinese calendar, as an auspicious day must be chosen for buying land and beginning construction. Before building starts, a ceremony takes place in which an offering, usually a brick wrapped in white cloth sprinkled with holy water, is placed in the foundation of each buildingso that work will proceed smoothly. When the building waork is finished, a series of ceremonies must take place before the compound can be occupied. The final ceremony is the melaspas, an inauguration ritual which brings the building to life.
House Compound Parts
Tugu / Pengijeng : Small shrines
Bale Daja : Pavilion of the head of the household and storehouse for family heirlooms, often completely walled in without windows
Sanggah Kemulan : Family temple, always in the kaja kangin corner with the main shrine dedicated to the souls of the ancestors, several small god houses, shrines for Gunung Agung and Batur and a Bale for the offerings.
Natah : opencourtyard
Bale Dauh : Guest Pavilion, parallel to the kauh wall.
Bale Dangin : Used for ceremonies such as marriage and tooth filling
Apit lawang : Gate Shrines.
Lawang Entrance, ideally situated in the kauh wall towards the kelod end.
Aling -aling : Short wall inside the entrance to prevent evil spirits from entering.
Paon : Kitchen, usually towards the kelod kauh corner
The focus of every community’s spiritual activity is the temple or pura – a specially designed temporary abode for the gods to inhabit when ever they so desire, open and unroofed so as to invite easy access between heaven and earth. Major religious ceremonies take place inside the pura and members of the community spend a great deal of their time and income beautifying the sanctuary with carvings and consecrating offerings at its altars.
At first glance, however, visitors can find Balinese temples rather confusing and even unimpressive, in appearance. Many of them seem to be rather bland affairs: open-roofed compounds scattered with a host of shrines and altars, built mainly of limestone and red brick, and with no paintings or treasures to focus on. But many of Bali’s numerous temples – there are at least 20,000 on the island – do reward closer examination. Every structure within a temple complex is charged with great symbolic significance, often with entertaining legends attached and many of the walls and gateways are carved with an ebullience of mythical figures, demonic spirits and even secular scenes.
The reason there are so many temples in Bali is that every banjar or small village is obliged to build at least three, each one serving a specific role within the community. At the top of the village, the kaja or holiest end, stands the pura puseh, the temple of origin, which is dedicated to the founder of community. For everyday spiritual activities, villagers worship at the pura desa, the village temple, which always lies at the heart of the village, and often doubles as a convenient forum for community meetings and other secular activities. The essential triumvirate is completed by the Pura dalem, or temple of the dead, at the kelod ( unclean ) end of the village, which is usually dedicated either to Siwa, or to the widow-witch Rangda. Larger villages will often have a number of other temples as well, perhaps including a pura melanting for agricultural temple or shrine, a pura subak, dedicated to the rice goddess, Dewi Sri.
Bali also has nine directional temples, or kayangan jagat, which are regarded as extremely sacred by all islanders as they protect the island as a whole and all its people. The kayangan jagat are located at strategic points across the island, especially on high mountain slopes, rugged cliff faces and lakeside shores : Pura Ulun Danau Batur is on the shores of lake Batur ( North ), etc. The most important of these is Besakih – the mother temple – as it occupies the crucial position on Bali’s holiest, and highest, mountain, Gunung Agung; The others are all of equal status, and as a dutiful islander you are expected to attend the anniversary celebrations ( odalan ) of the one situated closest to your home.
The
Real Bali Discovered by Foot and Wheel at Belimbing Villages
Belimbing Village is
perfectly suited to cater to all your outdoor adventure needs, being situated
in the stunning scenery of the highlands of Bali surrounded by unspoiled
nature. The temperature here is cooler for sports whether you choose to explore
the jungle, rice terraces or quiet picturesque village roads by foot or
mountain bike – all with your own guide.
You may even decided to
explore the untouched coastal scenery down at Soka Beach, where our mountain
bike tour concludes, and where an impressive temple is found as well as a huge
bat cave.
Whichever tour you choose,
you will not be disappointed. Bring along your camera, provisions and smiles
for an outing you will never forget.
Hindu
Priest Blessings, a Monkey Forrest, a Sacred Temple and Two Waterfalls
A Unique Tour
6
hours – Fit, Healthy & Adventurous
Start: Belimbing Village
Provided:
Water and light snacks. Sarong and sash.
A refreshing walk from Belimbing Village starts in the cool of the morning. You will be brought
through the rice terraces and into the jungle, by your personal, experienced
guide who will fill you with the knowledge and wonder of the area by pointing
out fruits, trees, spices, plants and even butterflies, birds and insects along
the way to the first point of interest that is soothing First Water falls. You will cross streams on bamboo bridges, or by stepping stones,
have a few steep inclines and descents and take in mother nature at her finest.
You may call into some very
traditional cottage industry businesses en route, still in extremely simple
conditions, such as basket weaving, palm sugar production, and cacao or other
spice preparation for sale, on your way. These farmers are simple, charming
folk who will not hesitate in making you feel welcome and of sharing their very
humble abodes with you. Dogs, chickens, pigs and other domestic animals are
also very much part of the traditional way of life. Although the dogs bark a
lot, they are not aggressive, just sounding the warning to their owners and the
village that you are there.
Once at first Water falls, you
will take a rest and take in the scenery. This waterfall tumbles about
30-metres from above, into a carved out cave of natural rock. The sunlight
breaks through the trees and overhanging large bamboo creating a stunning light
canopy. Reposing, this is the perfect place to gather thoughts and be at peace.
Your guide will then lead you
to a little bale (open wooden but roofed rest spot) up on the next hill that
overlooks the most amazing views. Here you will have some refreshments and
light snacks and take in the breathtaking surrounds, in preparation for the
next leg of the journey onward to the second water falls. This is where your camera
will definitely come in to use - all to the gushing sounds of the first waterfalls
not far.
Continuing to the next
waterfall your guide will lead you through charming local villages, with people
going about their daily life, through jungle, rice terraces and quiet lanes,
once again informing you of all the nature around you.
You will arrive at the second waterfalls through a
rice terrace with amazing views and onto a small piece of secret forest. This
waterfall is considered very Holy, and many ceremonies are held here. To the
right of the waterfall, on a plateau further up you can see a temple – it is
here that many purification and blessing ceremonies are conducted. This
waterfall is higher and perhaps more impressive than the first at about
40-metres, and around it you will notice placed bamboo pipes, that are actually
makeshift showers for the local villagers to bathe, as well as some other
naturally flowing water sources. Again, this is the time for refreshment and
quiet contemplation at one with the nature around you. From the waterfall you
will climb the gentle slopes of the forest to a shaded meditation hut made from
antique Javanese wood, and if you like, your guide can once again offer you a
light snack.
Moving on, a shorter hike
will take you once again through the jungle, quiet lanes and villages where you
will arrive at Pura Mekori (Mekori Monkey Forest and Temple). Your guide will
dress you appropriately in a traditional sarong and sash to then receive
blessings from the Hindu Priest before entering into the Monkey Forest. The
monkeys are harmless, but nonetheless are wild animals, so please respect them
and their environment and keep a courteous distance.
Your guide will lead you
through to the very impressive Mekori Temple in the middle of the forest, of
which some trees are over 1,000 years old and are enormous. The temple is used
for major ceremonies drawing the surrounding villagers on auspicious days.
After your temple and forest
visit, your guide will lead you back to the chauffer driven car where you will
be brought back on a 1.5 hours journey to Sanur, Kuta, Ubud, Jimbaran or you can stay at Cempaka Belimbing Villas ( 085100451178 / 79 ) just 10 menutes from Mekori Temple.
Lunch:
A delicious and freshly made
lunch will be served, consisting of all natural ingredients from the
surrounding area when fitting as a:
Starter
Main Course
Dessert
From the Tepi Sawah with a stunning panorama overlooking paddy terraces, with the sound
of bird song.
