Bali Culture

Bali Culture

Bali is truly a 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

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.