Ceremonial Bali
Bali is famous for so many reasons: a tropical island renowned for art, music and dancing, with plenty of surf thrown into the mix. In addition, it’s a Hindu island in the world’s biggest Islamic country (population-wise). This, for me, is far more intriguing.
Ceremonies truly form part of daily life here and ever since I arrived I’ve witnessed one after the other. It's easy to forget the sounds, the smells, the colours that greet you when you arrive in this part of the world - such a treat to return to. Everywhere you walk, you see offerings, blessings, temples big and small and all kinds of ceremonies. Walking down the streets, it’s sometimes difficult to dodge the offerings on the ground: trays or packets made from cocunut leaves and filled with small offerings of food (rice, even soup) and flowers. I read into this and learned that these ones on the ground are for the bad spirits or the devil. Very quickly these offerings can be squashed by cars or scooters or even eaten up by dogs. Apparently the spirits take the offerings as soon as they touch the ground so anything that is squashed or eaten up is just leftovers.
Throughout the day, people will bless their homes, their shops or their cars. I’ve to learn more about this ritual before I write too much but what I’ve witnessed is the burning of intense, a small prayer and the sprinkling of rice fresh from a bushel over whatever is to be blessed. I’ve seen this everywhere, in places I wasn’t expecting it: the gym, restaurants, the ambulance outside the medical centre. That people take this small yet significant time out of their day to pause and offer thanks and gratitude is incredibly heart-warming.
When walking home from the beach on my second day here, I came across two ladies - Dhanti and Sundari - carrying an unusual tree trunk. I asked them about it and they explained that it was part of a banana tree, the insides of which would be used to cook a deliciously rich dish for a ceremony they were having. They emphasised how delicious it would be and so I asked whether any of the restaurants would serve it. They thought that perhaps one traditional Balinese restaurant would but this was a dish mainly reserved for family ceremonies. As I was walking away, Sudari drove up on her scooter and insisted that I come to her house the next day for a ceremony where I could try this delicious dish made from banana tree trunk. I was very excited by the prospect of enjoying a traditional Balinese ceremony and meeting local people and of course agreed.
The next day, I arrived at Sundari’s house at the set time and found her in a beautiful garden surrounded by friends and family, everyone wearing the traditional garments for ceremonies: a white blouse or shirt and a colourful sarong with a matching belt over the blouse. I had no idea what this particular ceremony was about but found out that Sundari was being ordained as a priest so that, in the future, she could perform smaller family ceremonies without having to call in an external priest. I felt so privileged to have been asked to join and it was a wonderful experience.
Sundari had called in an important priest to conduct the ceremony and he sat on a raised stage at the top of the garden surrounded by beautiful flowers, incense, ornaments and trinkets, various gongs and apparatus he needed to bless the ceremony. To the side, next to Sundari’s own small temple, was a huge pile of offerings to the gods. Family members sat in various corners of the garden with no-one really saying much to one another. It seemed that there were a few distinct groups in different areas and not much mingling. After immediately being offered an appetiser and sweet drink, I was placed in what seemed to be the 'international group’ (although I was the only non-Asian at the ceremony) and spent the majority of the ceremony talking to Sudari’s Japanese neighbour, Sae, who was very helpful in explaining a lot of what was going on. The other people in our area were, according to Sae, speaking Indonesian rather than Balinese which suggests that one or more in the group were not local, hence us being in a cluster of ‘internationals'.
Sundari's ceremony to become a Balinese Priestess
Seminyak, Bali 2015.
The ceremony was fun to watch and listen to. It was also interesting to see so many people playing on their smartphones and tablets while waiting for the ceremony to start, and even more amusing to see Sundari sending messages discreetly even as the ceremony was happening. I couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed that my first truly intimate experience of a Balinese ceremony had been poisoned by modern day technology which I then reflected was incredibly hypocritical and unfair of me as I went round filming the whole thing on my GoPro.
Tumpek Kandang, 4 September 2015
Petitenget Beach, Seminyak, Bali.
While here, I’m based in Seminyak, close to the 15th century Petitenget Temple which is very much still functioning and, it seems, a big part of people’s lives. I’ve seen quite a number of beachside ceremonies taking place and was particularly intrigued on Saturday when I witnessed part of what is apparently called Tumpek Kandang. I tried to research this on the internet so that I could offer a bit of explanation to go with the video I took below. However, I had a better idea: I contacted my new friends Dhanti and Sundari to ask them if they could explain in their own words what this ceremony was about. I have been invited to dinner at Sundari’s house on Saturday evening to have an education in this and other Balinese ceremonies. So while I won’t hold the video from this blog, you will have to wait until I have been educated by Sundari and Dhanti for a full explanation of what was happening here!