Traditional Villages and Customs

As Bali is becoming increasingly modern, one has to visit its villages and attend some of its festivals to feel its soul and heart.

The Balinese village pays tribute to Man's harmony with nature. Every thirty meters or so, one will seen the same proud brick gate with the same lintel decoration. Hidden behind the mud walls will be the same red tiles of the family pavilions, located thirty meters away, with their thatched puppet houses functioning as the family temple (sanggah/merajan). Under the sahde of the tall coconut trees will be the imposing figure of a waringin.

The Balinese desa (village) is typically host to a set of three village temples. Instead of being closed, roofed structures, the temples are open spaces, demarcated only by wall and carved gates, with trees alongside thatched shrines in their inside: the gods thus enter the village as Nature itself.

In Bali has two sets of island-wide festivals which correspond to the "new years" of the two Balinese calendars: the nyepi of the lunar-solar Saka year and the galungan of the 210-day Pawukon calendar.

The Day of Silence

in more than one way, Bali is the exact opposite of the West. While Westerners usher in the New Year in revelry, the Balinese day of Silence, which falls on the day following the dark moon of the spring equinox, and opens a new year of the saka Hindu era which began in 78 A.D.

On nyepi day, which starts with sunrise, don't expect to be able to do anything. You will have to stay in your hotel. No traffic is allowed, not only of cars, but also of people, who have to stay in their individual houses. Light is kept to a minimum, radio tuned down, and no one works, of course. Even love making, this fate is set in motion by "action". Man is in the midst of a samsara cycle of incarnations, each of which is determined by the quality of his actions (karma) in his former existence. His "ideal" is thus to put the system to rest, I.e.., to control one's actions, and thus to subdue one's "demons". Only in Such a way can Man Hope to achieve "deliverance" from his cycles of life (moksa) and eventually merge with oneness of the Void, the Ultimate Silence of Surya.

The Galungan Festival

Among the many holidays in the Balinese 210-day calendar, the most prominent are undoubtedly those of Galungan and Kuningan; the former on the Wednesday of teh Dungulan week and the latter on the Saturday on the KUningan week. Due to their frequency - roughly once every seven Gregorian months-these festivals are not celebrated as national holiday but don't try to do anything between penampahan Galungan (the day for the slaughter of the pigs that precedes Galungan) and Manis Galungan, the day fllowing it or on the Friday perceding Kuningan; every-thing is closed. People go back to their village of origin to present offerings to their ancestors and villages temples.