Cycle of Life Celebrations in Bali

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.