Water and Galungan

Our tour guide for the day is Yudah(sp?). He is full of odd and interesting factoids about Bali and Hinduism. He is a wedding singer, a former (19 years) leader in his village, a tour guide. He used his various personas to explaing to us the notion of why god here has multiple names. It is not about there being three different Gods but one who is represented by different apsects

1. Brahma(creator)Red
2. Vishna(Protector)blue/green
3. Shiva(destroyer)white/yhellow

Riding down the streets is always an interesting feat here I sometimes wonder if there actually traffic laws :) Besides the whole driving on the wrong side of the road thing :) cars and more often motor bikes are parked at odd angles on two way streets that require right of way and passage for cars going in one or the other directions. Between1-2 am the trucks arrive with fresh fruits to sell at Market for the day. Since many Balinese are still lacking refrigeration in their homes. These open air market places are an opportunity to buy necessities for the day. 

Coffee tasting

Civet Bali Pulina

Does anyone remember the Morgan Freeman &Jack Nicholson movie Bucket List and the whole cat poop coffee discussion. As the story goes the Asian palm civets partially digest coffee cherries and then defecate them which is then used to help make the coffee. The cherries get fermented in the civets intestine as they pass through and after the civets defecate along with other fecal matter this is collected and used as part of the coffee making process. . Today I got to see the civets referred to in the movie. They are odd looking little creatures and I still think the story of using their poop to make coffee, Kopi Luwak is weird but hey to each his/her own. I visited the Bali Pulina Plantation where I actually got to see the small creatures and our group engaged in a coffee/tea tasting.  I don't like either but the experience for others was lots of fun. I did however enjoy the scenery and vegetation. 


Sarongs are worn in order to wrap your negative energy and today we participated in two activities on a water purification and the other a visit to a traditional Balinese home. The reason that only the bottom half of the body is wrapped is similar to the reason the panjor reach the sky the good and positive energy is believed to be higher and the negative lower so by placing the sarong around your body you are wrapping the negative energy and respecting the home and the temple. Traditionally the sarong is noted differently for men and women. For women it is tightly tied to allow minimal movement. This movement is significant to learning to dance. The tightly tied sarong allows the amount of foot space and movement needed to do traditionally Balinese dance.

Water Purification Ceremony

There are flower offerings everywhere and they are also part of every activity and ceremony. After visiting the coffee plantation we went to Gunung Kawi for a water purification ceremony.  Places like this exist for dealing with the illogical and opening the mind. When you basically have reached the end of your rope and need to clear your head and find peace or answers you come to a place such as this. The water in this space is from a natural spring.  Prayers are offered in threes. We were not asked to pray to Brahma or Vishnu or Shiva but to pray to our God for

1. thanking God for clarity(empty handed prayer posture)
2. thanking God for the space in which to commune with Him(flower in hand prayer posture)
3. asking for your wish(empty handed prayer posture)

Balinese instrument

We had lunch at the  Bali Budaya Cultural Village The cultural village is a compound that has been in our hosts family for seven generations. There are currently 3 generations living here. We started with a prayer and welcoming that was done before entering the home living space as the intention is to only invite good spirits into the home. An offering was made as well. The elder of the home played a traditional song for us. The children danced and we were treated to a traditional Balinese lunch cooked by the women of the household. The elder also explained that a part of cooking the meal involved creating an offering of the items on the menu that are placed around the living space. This offering is left and the birds and animals have food as well. This offering is symbolic of being thankful for the food and opportunity to eat. There is also a wood carver showcase on the property as well as wood carvers that you can watch carving, alligator wood, teak or mahogany.
After lunch we were treated to a tour of the property. The elder explained that the property is built based on head/body foot.

• Head Temple. The temple is built in the northernmost part
• Body the living space
• Feet_ Business or what you are doing? In this case a rice paddy
  
  
  
  

 

Galungan is a 10 day celebration that  started last wed July 25 and runs through August 3.  Housers in Bali are adorned on the right entrance by penjor poles. Penjor are large coconut leaf and bamboo poles that arch up into the sky. Penjor can be purchased but mean more if made. Similar to  

2 Samuel 4:24  But the king replied to Araunah, "No, I insist on paying you for it. I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing." So David bought the threshing floor and the oxen and paid fifty shekels of silver for them.(NIV) 

The belief is that making the penjor yourself is more sincere and more valuable. The penjor is a symbol of prosperity and the reason it reaches into the sky is due to the belief that the higher you are the better and is symbolic of mountains. It is believed to be a celebration similar to our version of Christmas according to our tour guide although I am more inclined to believe it is more akin to the resurrection.  It is said to be the celebration of the triumph of the good god Dharma over the evil adharma.

creating the pattern using tied raffia

a completed pattern waiting for dye

We visited a weavers collective Tenun Ikat Setia Cili (go to Google translate to read this one) and I got to see someone weaving and a second person creating a pattern for a future weaving session. The pattern was tied in raffia to the weft fibers. The gentleman on the left is creating a pattern from his mind there is no written/printed version of the pattern.  Each of the red marks in the picture on the right are raffia that is tied around bundles of thread creating the pattern that will be on the fabric when it is eventually dyed. The woman below is weaving the patterns and fixing the warp as it breaks.

a weaver weaving the threads into a panel

this puppets are 10 feet tall

 

Barack Obama puppet

 Our day ended with a visit to the House of Masks and Puppets. As a crafter this was a really fun visit for me.There is everything here from shadow puppets to string puppets and masks of every make and kind.

Day 1 photos