Bali Special Event.

CREMATION CEREMONIES

Bali is famous for it is cremation. A cremation in Bali is something worth seeing and it is a very joyous occasion. Sooner or later every Balinese is cremated. A cremation is very costly. There are so many offerings involved; a cremation tower has to be built; a sarcophagus in the form of a "Lembu", bull, "Singga", Lion, or a "Gajah mina", fish body with an elephant head, has to be carved. Also the hundred of people who come to help have to be entertained with food, cigarettes and other things
The tower is a means to carry the body to the cemetery and the sarcophagus is where the corpse is burned. They are not really an essential part of any cremation and so a cremation can do without them.

But the tower is also a status symbol as is the sarcophagus. The status symbol is number of tiers a tower can have. The number of tiers of tower is always odd,
Example; 3, 5, 7, 9 or 11. Eleven is highest number. King and their family and members of the Brahmin caste are entitled to a tower of 11 tiers, Ksatriyas can have tower of 9, Weisyas of 7, and Sudra of 5. A “Lembu” or Bull is for King and their family and the Brahmin caste. Ksatriyas are burned in a “Singa” or Lion and Weisyas have the same sarcophagus as the Ksatriyas and the Sudras have the “Gajah mina”. Because of the tower and the sarcophagus being a status symbol a cremation is very seldom without them.
If a poor man dies his body is buried first and after many years, after the family has saved enough money for cremation, his body will be cremated. If a priest dies, because he is a holy man, he is not allowed to be buried, even if the family of the priest is poor. His corpse must be cremated. From the time he dies until the day of his cremation his body is kept in the home. This also happens to the dead of the royal family. The body of a dead king is kept in the home not because he is holy, but because of prestige. The people do not think it right for a king to be buried first and cremated later.

Keeping a body in the home is very costly affair, because every day now offerings for the dead king have to be made and there must be a few people who keep watch day and night and see nothing undesirable happens to the king.
Poor people who cannot finance their own cremation wait for high priests or kings or princes to be cremated so that the can join them. This considered a very high privilege and honor to join someone very important in his cremation, because the people are sure to have a good and elaborate cremation. Beside the honor such cremations give to the joiners it is also very cheap for them. The joiners have to contribute very little when compared with the cost of their private cremation. I have witnessed such a mass cremation where 600 dead join a high priest.
A mass cremation can also take place when the cemetery of the village will soon be full. This kind of mass cremation is always of dead are made and kept in the common shed, built for the purpose of keeping the effigies there. Graves are opened and the bones are taken out kept out; they wrapped in a piece of white cloth; they are not taken home but kept in a shed on the cemetery. The tombs are leveled, because the dead are not there any longer and by so doing the people make space for new dead.
At such a mass cremation, since the people are from different groups, one sees different types of tower and sarcophagus. It is always a spectacular sight to see so many, although small, and so many sarcophaguses carried to the cemetery in colorful procession. The last procession of cremation the ash of the body they bring and true to the sea.
The purpose of a cremation is to free the souls from the ties with the earth and cleanse them, so that they hopingly reincarnate as better human being. The preparation of large cremation takes a long time; it is time consuming and costs lot money.
Every day thousand of men and women were doing preparations for this magnificent cremation, three days before the day of burning the family spent already 50 million rupiah. It is a huge amount at any time but more so in 1998 when the rupiah was still really hard.

Other Temple Ceremony
Saraswati Day On August 1st, 2009, Hindu's followers in Bali celebrate Saraswati Day, the day to worship God in his manifestation as the master of all knowledge, every six moths which's based on Balinese calendar, called pawukon on Saniscara Umanis Watugunung. This is a time to give their great honor to the knowledge. Balinese Hindu believes that knowledge is an essential medium to achieve the goal of life as a human being. Saraswati Day is celebrated to honor God as source of the knowledge. God, in this particular celebration, is manifested as Saraswati Dewi, Goddess Saraswati.
Nyepi Day On March 26th, 2009, Hindu's followers in Bali celebrate Nyepi. Day, The first day of the new year is, in Bali, called “ Nyepi”, which means quiet. No one is allowed to leave the compound; one does not work on that day; no fire is allowed and people may not smoke. People are supposed to spend them quietly at home and meditate. Food for that is cooked the night before. People sleep in the dark, day because no light is allowed. And before nyepi called "Pengerupukan" so all the Village in Bali make ogoh- ogoh. The second day of the new year is called “Ngembak api” ; it means that people are allowed to make fire on this day, but people do not work yet.
Pagerwesi Day On August 5th, 2009, Hindu's followers in Bali celebrate Pagerwesi Day, Feast day of Pagarwesi Day fall on my Budha Keliwon of Sinta. In holy day calendar in Bali, today is day to 5 from with refer doing important feast day of Christmas. Today is Hyang Pramesti Teacher payogan, accompanied by all Deity and of Pitara, for the shake of prosperity of world with all its contents and for the shake of its life all creature. At that moment people shall semadhi ayoga, namely set a mind at rest and also show to curtsey fore bhakti of Ida the Hyang Widhi.
Temple Ceremony Every Temple and Shrine has a special date for it annual Ceremony, or " Odalan ", every 210 days according to Balinese calendar, including the smaller ancestral shrine which each family possesses. Because of this practically every few days a ceremony of festival of some kind takes place in some Village in Bali. There are also times when the entire island celebrated the same Holyday, such as at Galungan, Kuningan, Nyepi day, Saraswati day, Tumpek Landep day, Pagerwesi day etc. The dedication or inauguration day of a Temple is considered its birth day and celebration always takes place on the same day if the wuku or 210 day calendar is used.
Galungan and Kuningan Day Galungan - this year falling on Wednesday, March 18th, 2009, begins a 10 day celebration of fundamental importance on the Bali Hindu calendar and a particularly interesting time for visitors to be on the most spiritual of islands. every six months which's based on Balinese calendar, called pawukon on Budha Kliwon Dunggulan. Marking the beginning of a window lasting ten days, Galungan and Kuningan is the period when the spirits of deceased ancestors descend to earth to once again be among their families.
Bali Art Festival On June 13th- July 11th 2009, Bali Art Festival to do, under the initiative of Governor of Bali, since 1978, annual Bali art festival taken place from the middle of June until July lasting for one month, the main aim of the festival is preserving the art and culture of Bali, located in Denpasar Bali - Indonesia. There are varieties of master piece of arts from all regencies in Bali to be presented in that festival such as: traditional music’s, dances, and many others handicraft activities.

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