Ancestors are very important to the Balinese. Each Balinese family has a Family Temple to worship God Almighty and glorify the ancestor and of course, in this family temple ancestors worship is given a great emphasis. The Family Temple is usually situated in the kaja-kangin corner – kaja being in the direction of the holy […]
Candi Bentar is arch-shaped building term for two similar buildings and unvarying but a mirror symmetry that restricts the left and right of the entrance. The temple has no roof liaison briefly at the top, so that the two sides apart perfectly, and only connected at the bottom by the stairs. The building is commonly
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
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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,
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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
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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
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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
Sanghyang Dance – The Sacred Dance Read More »
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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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
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The Kecak Dance is one of the most famous of Balinese dance. It is unusual because it has no musical accompaniment like many other Indonesian dances do, the rhythm of the dance is produced by the chanting ‘monkey’ chorus. Instead, a troupe of over 150 bare-chested men serve as the chorus, making a wondrous cacophony
Balinese dance usually identifies sacred characters because most dances are performed in connection with religious rituals. However, there are also many secular types of dance that are done purely for entertainment and fun and there are others that are performed with the tourists in mind. One of the most irreverent of Balinese dances is Joged
Rituals and activities in Bali are predetermined by whether a certain day is ‘good’ or ‘bad’. Virtually every Balinese household possesses a unique Balinese calendar for this kind of adherence. In general, Easterners believe that each and every single thing boasts meaningful attributes. Chinese heritage has its Feng Shui, a concept of bearing and orientation
Saraswati is the Goddess of leaming, knowledge, and wisdom. The Sanskrit word sara means “essence” and swa means “self.” Thus Saraswati means “the essence of the self.” Saraswati is represented in Hindu mythology as the divine consort of Lord Brahma, the Creator of the universe. Since knowledge is necessary for creation, Saraswati symbolizes the creative
