Fire, water, and flowers are the basic components of all offering, additional items are given according to one’s profession and wealth, and the season in which they’re made. No matter what the offering is, it must be of the finest ingredients and ritually cleansed before being placed. The variety is mind boggling, in countless designs and styles. Some […]
Kulkul is a big bell made of wood or bamboo use by various social organization of Balinese society. Like a bell it is used to indicated time of gathering, ceremony, and in the past to call the people during a strain time resulted by conflict, or criminal. Organization in Bali are various based on tradition, profession or hobby […]
Tooth Filing is belonging to the Manusa Yadnya (Ceremony for Humans). Called ‘Mapandes‘ in High Balinese, ‘Metatah‘ in Common Balinese. The reason for filing is to control evil human characteristics (Sad Ripu): greed, lust, anger, confusion, stupidity, jealousy, ill-will, and intoxication by either passion or drunkenness. This important life-cycle event usually occurs when a Balinese boy or girl […]
Cockfighting, which in Balinese are known as tajen, meklecan or ngadu, are required at temple and purification (mecaru) ceremonies. No one knows when they started. The Tabuh Rah ritual to expel evil spirits always has a cockfight to spill the blood. Tabuh Rah literally means pouring blood. There are ancient texts disclosing that the ritual has existed for […]
Balinese sacrad dance rituals, performed to ward off pestilence and plague, and restore harmony to the seen and unseen. Two young girls on their verge of puberty, often 8 to 10 years old, “pure” and old enough to be intermediaries with the spirits, don their dancing attire. The pemangku priest makes offerings to the deity of the temple requesting […]
Penjor is one of the means Upakara of celebrating Galungan. Penjor is the symbol of a mountain that provides safety and welfare. Goal setting of penjor is as Swadharma Hindus to bring a sense of dedication and thank to Ida Widi Wasa and as a token of gratitude for the prosperity of human beings who delegated Ida Sang […]
In many more ways than one Bali is the exact opposite of the West; While Westerners open the New Year in revelry, the Balinese open their own New Year in silence. This is Nyepi Day, the Balinese Day of Silence, which begins on the day, following the dark moon of the spring equinox, and opens a New Year […]
The Balinese, through the execution of various forms of upacara (ceremonies), do so by active voluntarism; participating and contributing – a common Balinese term known as Ngayah. Though it takes up much of their time, money and energy, they are nonetheless pleased to carry it out. The Balinese way of life and Hinduism are both intertwined. Hindu belief […]
The chain of ceremonies that follow a cremation, the memukur, best translated as escorting one’s soul to heaven is actually a much more delicate and costly ritual than the grand cremation ceremony itself. The cremation ceremony on this island has always been very fascinating for visitors to Bali. So grand is every cremation ceremony that only a family […]
Lontar is derived from rontal, which is composed of two Old Javanese word, ron and tal. Ron means leaf and tal means rontal tree, member of the palm family (Borassus flabellifer) which is also widely called siwalan tree. Rontal tree grows slowly compared to coconut tree. Rontal trees can easily be found in arid and tropical areas. Due […]
In legends, Legong Dance is the heavenly dance of divine nymphs. Of all classical Balinese dances, it remains the quintessence of femininity and grace. Girls from the age of five aspire to be selected to represent the community as Legong Dancers. In Bali, not every one have same understanding of the word “Legong”. Until today some Balinese think […]
In Balinese mythology, Leak is Balinese Magic the wicked witch. Leak meaning witches and evil means. Leak can only be seen at night by the shamans hunters leak. In daylight he looks like a human being, while at night he was in the cemetery to find the organs in the human body uses to make magic potions. Magic […]