My beautiful wife totally enamored with the natural and cultural beauty in Bali asked : Where do the Balinese people travel to themselves, when the whole world seems to travel to Bali?
The enterprising pretty hostess replied : Nowhere. The Balinese people cannot travel as they have to perform many ceremonies. You see there are so many ceremonies to be performed that we cannot travel.
Now, Indonesia is an archipelago of thousands of island. Many people often say that Indonesians themselves do not know how many are there exactly. Some are formed and disappear as per the tidal conditions. Though the archipelago is predominantly of Islamic faith now, there are signs of an era long ago which had influences of the Hinduism and Buddhism. Nowhere it is more visible then the islands of Bali and Java. Out of these people in Bali pre-dominantly follows Hindu faith. Their form of religion has led to the island having many beautiful temples and interesting ceremonies.
The temples of Bali take full advantage of the natural beauty, the seas, the greenery, the mountains and the lakes and have turned themselves into simply stunning spectacles. Ulun Danu, Besakih, Uluwatu, Goa Gajah, Tanha lot are all worth a dekko even if you are not too much into religion.
Moving over to ceremonies, and this is where thing start getting more interesting. The people are very high on ceremonies and there are indeed a fair number of them to keep them occupies. The pretty young hostess did mention a lot of them and it was obvious that she was pretty busy in order to perform them. There will be daily offerings to the lords and the demons. A nearly steady stream of ceremonial days with rituals of their own. What was indeed beautiful was the fact that people of the entire island used to participate diligently and an amazing transformation used to take place.
We were indeed lucky to be on the island during the course of some important festivals like the Galungan and Kuningan. During Galungan which marks the start of return of all the good spirits to their former homes, the entire island is decorated with Penjors lining up the streets with offerings at both ends. Kuningan honors the completion of Galungan, and is a day of prayer and the Balinese share their good fortune with blessings and feasts.
Faith or no faith it was simply amazing to be part of such loving people, observing them going through beautiful ceremonies. The entire island was transformed into a sight to behold. Lucky indeed, we were to have been a witness to that.
Leaving a collage of more of the same, beautiful temples, ceremonies and the offering of faith.
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