Thousands of religious ceremonies that are held by Balinese each year for centuries give the island of Bali a unique characteristic; bring visitors to the island; drain the resources and savings of them who perform the ceremonies; give income to the suppliers of materials that are use in the ceremonies; make the Balinese to take a short leave from offices; and sometimes make them work harder to earn enough money for holding the ceremonies. In short, these ceremonies make most of the activities on the island keep on going.

Why Balinese hold thousands of ceremonies every year? There are many reasons that underlie the holding of religious ceremonies. One of them is fear of deities and God wrath. Most Balinese believe that if negligence in holding religious ceremonies incites the wrath of the deities and God. The wrath of the deities will result on punishment. The punishment does not take the form of a judgment in the afterworld, but in the form of illness, misfortune or death. This idea deities wrath (kaduken, or kasalahang) is still feared by most of Balinese.

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Today, Balinese hold an election that elects the leader of Bali for the next five years. Election as a mean to determine the future leader is not a new thing in Bali. In some areas in Bali, election has been practiced as a mean to determine the head of hamlet (klian), although election or voting is usually the last choice.

In electing the klian, a general meeting of all hamlet members is hold in the hamlet-meeting hall. This meeting in the first place usually tries to choose the hamlet leader with a general agreement without voting, but if the candidates and their supporter cannot be settled into a win-win solution, a voting have to be held to elect the future leader.

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There is a traditional Balinese values that keeps disturbing me lately which seems to “conflict” with the value that spread globally nowadays. When I say the word “conflict”, it is based on my sole opinion. Maybe the readers have their own opinion, well here is the good old value.

“Let others define you” (in Balinese we said “depang anake ngadanin”)
In the old days, Balinese usually refrained from assessing their self on what they can do or what they can not, whether they know something or do not. They usually let other to judge them whether they were an able men or women or not. For example if someone asked a Balinese whether he can do a task or not they will reluctant to say that he is capable in doing the task though he has capability in doing it. He will usually say, lets give a try, and let you to judge whether he is capable or not.

Speaking of our own ability considered arrogant by the old generations of the Balinese. It seems that the old Tao saying “Those who know do not speak. Those who speak do not know” is implemented deeply on the mind of the old Balinese.

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In Balinese drama performance social and political critics have been an indispensable part of a performance. Social and political critic can be found in all kind of traditional drama performance, from Wayang Kulit (shadow puppet) to Drama Gong, from Arja (Balinese traditional opera) to Masked dance performance.

The inclusion of social and political critic in traditional drama performance is not a new invention. Since the first time shadow puppet was performed in the island of Bali in the 896 AD, during the reign of King Ugrasena, it has already incorporated some social and political critics in it. The critics usually come up in the conversation between the clown, between the clown and price, between spirit and god, between clown and demon, and between king and god.

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Rat infestation has become worldwide problem that happen in all parts of the world and no wonder every civilization has their own way in dealing with rat. If Germans have their Pied Piper of Hamelin, Balinese have their own way in dealing with rat infestation.

In Bali, rat is given an honorable title “Jero Ketut”. The word “jero” is a title for honorable man” while “ketut” is a name for the youngest of four siblings. This title is given to the rat since Balinese believe that rat is a sensitive animal that does not like to be treated disrespectfully. The older generation of Balinese usually forbade their juniors to swear or used dirty word to rat lest it will become more and more troublesome.

In dealing with rat infestation Balinese usually make a small offering (segehan) which is presented to the rat so and request it to go away from their house compound. In Tabanan regency, when thousands of rats attack the rice fields, the farmers of Tabanan will hold a Nangluk Merana ceremony.

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Temple and societies in Bali has a unique bond in which a temple serves as part of identity of a society. All traditional Balinese social unit from households to kingdoms, possess their own temples where offerings are offered to the deities concerned with their affairs, for example market deities in the market temple, ancestors in the household and clan temple. In other words, each social unit forms congregation of specific temple or shrines, which symbolically defines its place in Balinese social universe.

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