BALI CULTURE
Bali Culture at
balitraveling.com introducing Bali as a truly unique isle; from
its timeless traditions, colourful pageantry to rites of passage.
The people possess a genuine sense inner happiness that is perhaps
attributed to the strong Hindu faith. There is a fundamental belief
in the spiritual world which should always be in balance and harmonize
with the physical world to attain peace and prosperity.
HISTORY
OF BALI
Although there are no artifacts or records dating
back to the Stone Age, it is believed that the first settlers on
Bali migrated from China around 2500 BC. By the Bronze era, around
300 B.C. quite an evolved culture existed in Bali. The complex system
of irrigation and rice production, still in use today, was established
around this time. History is vague for the first few centuries.
A number of Hindu artifacts have been found dating back to the 1st
century, yet it appears that the main religion, around 500 AD was
predominantly Buddhist in influence. A Chinese scholar, Yi-Tsing,
in 670 AD reported on a trip to India, that he had visited a Buddhist
country called Bali.
It wasn't until the 11th century that Bali received the first strong
influx of Hindu and Javanese cultures. With the death of his father
around AD 1011, the Balinese Prince, Airlanggha, moved to East Java
and set about uniting it under one principality. Having succeeded,
he then appointed his brother, Anak Wungsu, as ruler of Bali. During
the ensuing period there was a reciprocation of political and artistic
ideas. The old Javanese language, Kawi, became the language used
by the aristocracy, one of the many Javanese traits and customs
adopted by the cause. With the death of Airlanggha, in the middle
of the 11th century, Bali enjoyed a period of autonomy.
However, this proved to be short-lived as in 1284, the East Javanese
king Kertanegara, conquered Bali and ruled over it from Java. In
1292, Kertanegara was murdered and Bali took the opportunity to
liberate itself once again. However, in 1343, Bali was brought back
under Javanese control by its defeat at the hands of Gajah Mada,
a general in the last of the great Hindu-Javanese empires, the Majapahit.
With the spread of Islam throughout Sumatra and Java during the
16th century, the Majapahit Empire began to collapse and a large
exodus of aristocracy, priests, artists and artisans to Bali ensued.
For a while Bali flourished and the following centuries were considered
the Golden Age of Bali's cultural history. The principality of Gelgel,
near Klungkung, became a major centre for the Arts, and Bali became
the major power of the region, taking control of neighboring Lombok
and parts of East Java.
The European Influence
The first Dutch seamen set foot on Bali in 1597, yet it wasn't until
the 1800's that the Dutch showed an interest in colonizing the island.
In 1846, having had large areas of Indonesia under their control
since the 1700's, the Dutch government sent the troops into northern
Bali. In 1894, Dutch forces sided with the Sasak people of Lombok
to defeat their Balinese rulers. By 1911, all the Balinese principalities
had either been defeated in battle, or had capitulated, leaving
the whole island under Dutch control. After World War I, Indonesian
Nationalist sentiment was rising and in 1928, Bahasa Indonesia was
declared the official national language.
During World War II, the Dutch were expelled by the Japanese, who
occupied Indonesia from 1942 to 1945. After the Japanese defeat,
the Dutch tried to regain control of their former colonies, but
on August 17, 1945, Indonesia was declared independent by its first
President, Sukarno. After four years of fighting and strong criticism
from the international community, the Dutch government finally ceded
and, in 1949, Indonesia was recognized as an independent country.
THE PEOPLE
Life in Bali is very communal with the organization of villages,
farming and even the creative arts being decided by the community.
The local government is responsible for schools, clinics, hospitals
and roads, but all other aspects of life are placed in the hands
of two traditional committees, whose roots in Balinese culture
stretch back centuries. The first, Subak, concerns the production
of rice and organizes the complex irrigation system. Everyone
who owns a sawah, or padi field, must join their local Subak,
which then ensures that every member gets his fair distribution
of irrigation water. Traditionally, the head of the Subak has
his sawah at the very bottom of the hill, so that the water has
to pass through every other sawah before reaching his own. The
other community organization is the Banjar, which arranges all
village festivals, marriage ceremonies and cremations, as well
as a form of community service known as Gotong Royong. Most villages
have at least one Banjar and all males have to join one when they
marry. Banjars, on average, have a membership of between 50 to
100 families and each Banjar has its own meeting place called
the Bale Banjar. As well as being used for regular meetings, the
Bale (pavilion) is where the local gamelan orchestras and drama
groups practice.
Each stage
of Balinese life is marked by a series of ceremonies and rituals
known as Manusa Yadnya. They contribute to the rich, varied and
active life the average Balinese leads.
Birth
The first ceremony of Balinese life takes place even before birth.
Another ceremony takes place soon after the birth, during which
the afterbirth is buried with appropriate offerings. The first major
ceremony takes place halfway through the baby's first Balinese year
of 210 days.
Names
Basically the Balinese only have four first names. The first child
is Wayan or Putu, the second child is Made or Kadek, the third is
Nyoman or Komang and the fourth is Ketut. The fifth, sixth, seventh,
eighth and ninth will be another Wayan, Made, Nyoman, Ketut and
Wayan again.
Childhood
The Balinese certainly love children and they have plenty of them
to prove it. Coping with a large family is made much easier by the
policy of putting younger children in the care of older ones. After
the ceremonies of babyhood come ceremonies marking the stages of
childhood and puberty, including the important tooth-filing ceremony.
Marriage
Every Balinese expects to marry and raise a family, and marriage
takes places at a comparatively young age. Marriages are not, in
general, arranged as they are in many other Asian communities although
strict rules apply to marriages between the castes. There are two
basic forms of marriage in Bali - mapadik and ngorod. The respectable
form, in which the family of the man visit the family of the woman
and politely propose that the marriage take place, is mapadik. The
Balinese, however, like their fun and often prefer marriage by elopement
(ngorod) as the most exciting option. Of course, the Balinese are
also a practical people so nobody is too surprised when the young
man spirits away his bride-to-be, even if she loudly protests about
being kidnapped. The couple go into hiding and somehow the girl's
parents, no matter how assiduously they search, never manage to
find her. Eventually the couple re-emerge, announce that it is too
late to stop them now, the marriage is officially recognized and
everybody has had a lot of fun and games. Marriage by elopement
has another advantage apart from being exciting and mildly heroic
it's cheaper.
The Household
There are many modern Balinese houses, but there are still a great
number of traditional Balinese homes. The streets of Ubud; nearly
every house will follow the same traditional walled design.
Men & Women
There are certain tasks clearly to be handled by women, and others
reserved for men. Social life in Bali is relatively free and easy.
In Balinese leisure activities the roles are also sex differentiated.
Both men and women dance but only men play the gamelan. Today you
do see some women painters, sculptors, and woodcarvers.
Community Life
Balinese have an amazingly active and organized village life. You
simply cannot be a faceless nonentity in Bali. You can't help but
get to know your neighbors as your life is so entwined and interrelated
with theirs.
Death & Cremation
There are ceremonies for every stage of Balinese life but often
the last ceremony-cremation-is the biggest. A Balinese cremation
can be an amazing, spectacular, colorful, noisy and exciting event.
In fact it often takes so long to organize a cremation that years
have passed since the death. During that time the body is temporarily
buried. Of course an auspicious day must be chosen for the cremation
and since a big cremation can be very expensive business many less
wealthy people may take the opportunity of joining in at a larger
cremation and sending their own dead on their way at the same time.
Brahmans, however, must be cremated immediately. Apart from being
yet another occasion for Balinese noise and confusion it's a fine
opportunity to observe the incredible energy the Balinese put into
creating real works of art which are totally ephemeral. A lot more
than a body gets burnt at the cremation. The body is carried from
the burial ground (or from the deceased's home if it's an 'immediate'
cremation) to the cremation ground in a high, multi-tiered tower
made of bamboo, paper, string, tinsel, silk, cloth, mirrors, flowers
and anything else bright and colorful you can think of. The tower
is carried on the shoulders of a group of men, the size of the group
depending on the importance of the deceased and hence the size of
the tower. The funeral of a former rajah high priest may require
hundreds of men to tote the tower.
A long the
way to the cremation ground certain precautions must be taken to
ensure that the deceased's spirit does not find its way back home.
Loose spirits around the house can be a real nuisance. To ensure
this doesn't happen requires getting the spirits confused as to
their whereabouts, which you do by shaking the tower, running it
around in circles, spinning it around, throwing water at it, generally
making the trip to the cremation ground anything but a stately funeral
crawl. Meanwhile, there's likely to be a priest halfway up to tower,
hanging on grimly as it sways back and forth, and doing his best
to soak bystanders with holy water. A gamelan sprints along behind,
providing a suitably exciting musical accompaniment. Camera-toting
tourists get all but run down and once again the Balinese prove
that ceremonies and religion are there to be enjoyed. At the cremation
ground the body is transferred to a funeral sarcophagus, this should
be in the shape of a bull for a Brahmana, a winged lion for a Satria
and a sort of elephant-fish for a Sudra. These days, however, almost
anybody from the higher castes will use a bull. Finally up it all
goes in flames funeral tower, sarcophagus, body, the lot. The eldest
son does his duty by poking through the ashes to ensure that there
are no bits of body left unburned. And where does your soul go after
your cremation? Why, to a heaven which is just like Bali!
RELIGION
The Balinese are Hindu yet their religion is very different from
that of the Indian variety. They do have a caste system, but there
are no untouchables and occupation is not governed by caste. In
fact, the only thing that reflects the caste system is the language
which has three tiers; 95% of all the Balinese are Hindu Dharma,
and speak Low or Everyday Balinese with each other; Middle Balinese
is used for talking to strangers, at formal occasions or to people
of the higher Ksatriya caste; High Balinese is used when talking
to the highest class, the Brahmana, or to a pedanda (priest).
It may sound complicated, but most of the words at the low and
medium levels are the same, whereas High Balinese is a mixture
of Middle Balinese and Kawi, the ancient Javanese language.
The Balinese worship the Hindu trinity Brahma,
Shiva and Vishnu, who are seen as manifestations of the Supreme
God Sanghyang Widhi. Other Indian gods like Ganesha (the elephant-headed
god) also often appear, but more commonly, one will see shrines
to the many gods and spirits that are uniquely Balinese. Balinese
believe strongly in magic and the power of spirits and much of their
religion is based upon this. They believe that good spirits dwell
in the mountains and that the seas are home to demons and ogres.
Most villages have at least three main temples; one, the Pura Puseh
or 'temple of origin', faces the mountains and is dedicated to the
village founders, another, the Pura Desa or village temple, is normally
found in the centre and is dedicated to the welfare of the village,
the last, the Pura Dalem, is aligned with the sea and is dedicated
to the spirits of the dead. Aside from these 'village' temples,
almost every house has its own shrine and you can also find monuments
dedicated to the spirits of agriculture, art and all other aspects
of life. Some temples, Pura Besakih for example, on the slopes of
Mount Agung, are considered especially important and people from
all over Bali travel to worship there.
Offerings play a significant role in Balinese life as they appease
the spirits and thus bring prosperity and good health to the family.
Every day small offering trays (canang sari) containing symbolic
food, flowers, cigarettes and money, are placed on shrines, in temples,
outside houses and shops, and even at dangerous crossroads.
Festivals are another great occasion for appeasing the gods. The
women bear huge, beautifully arranged, pyramids of food, fruit and
flowers on their heads while the men might conduct a blood sacrifice
through a cockfight. There are traditional dances and music and
the gods are invited to come down to join in the festivities. The
festivals are usually very exciting occasions and well worth observing,
if you are in the area. A crucial thing to remember, if you wish
to join in celebrations or enter a temple, is that there are a number
of rules that have to be respected. Please see back page "A Word
of Advice" for Rules.
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