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There is a holiday called Kajeng Kliwon in which Balinese serves Tipat or Belayag (rice-cake snack cooked in a small container of woven young coconut leaves) to The God. Besides in Kajeng Kliwon, Tipat is also used as an offering to the God in a day called Nyepi. A baby who enters temple for the first time is usually brought Tipat symbolizing that he or she asks permission from the deities who reside in the temple to enter the temple by presenting a Tipat.

There are many kinds of Tipat known in Bali. They can be differentiated in term of shape. A square-shape tipat is called Tipat Nasi, while the round one is called Tipat Taluh and for the pyramide-shape one, Balinese call it Tipat Sari, and many more shapes.

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Tightly wound in golden costumes, quivering flowers atop tooled leather crowns, the dancers’ eyes dart from side to side, matching the energy in their hands as their fingers seem to shimmer in their joints. Balinese dance is perhaps one of the most well-known in the world.

Steeped in sacred religious rituals, dance is one way Balinese communicate with their gods and deified ancestral spirits. Dance (and theater and music) entertains both the mortal and divine audience. Both males and females dance and begin to study at a very young age. Towns are filled with dance studios (sanggar) where children go after school a few hours a week. Recitals and
performances at temple festivals are de rigeur , whether or not the piece is polished or not. The process of learning is almost as important as the finished dance and the entire community can get involved, from the teachers to the musicians to the vendors who feed the hungry students to the drivers who take them to the venue. Rituals are replete with children as young as 3 and 4 years old performing the sacred forms of Rejang Dewa and Baris Gede. The deities don’t mind that the feet are in the wrong position or if you look at your neighbor when you forget a step–it is dance as an act of devotion that is important here.

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Here is an interesting article on environment in Balinese Hindu by T. Nirarta Samadhi:
Two core conceptions within the Balinese Hindu thoughts which the respondents from seven desa adat in Gianyar regarded as addressing the existence of nature and environment are the psycho-cosmic concept of cosmoses relationships and Tri Hita Karana or literally “three causes of goodness”. They are among the core Bali Hindu conceptions of space and also serve as fundamental philosophical principles which underlie the socio-cultural and natural worlds of Bali (Samadhi, 2000).

PSYCHO-COSMIC CONCEPT
The psycho-cosmic concept is a Balinese Hinduism conception, which can be explained through symbols of the spiritual world within the sphere of physical world (sekala) and its relation with the metaphysical world (niskala) in a way similar to the relations between the bhuwana alit (microcosm) and the bhuwana agung (microcosm). As such, the human body is regarded as the world of microcosm which is differentiated from his immediate environment or universe (macrocosm).

The psycho-cosmic concept, being the most general conception of all is implicitly mentioned in many articles within the law. The philosophy of Balinese Hindu urges that a man as a bhuwana alit (microcosm) should harmonize himself with the universe as a bhuwana agung (macrocosm), because the human body and the universe are originated from the same elements, the element of Panca Mahabhuta or five basic elements (Puri, 1995) i.e. pertiwi (earth/solid substance), apah (water/fluid substance), teja (fire/light/heat), bayu (air), and akasa (space/ether). Thus, in regard to man-environment relationships within the Balinese Hindu conceptual framework, the maintenance of balance or harmonious relationships is one of the religious goals to be attained.

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On Thursday, 4/24/08, a sacred and unique ceremony known as Siat Sampian (war of sampian) was held in Samuan Tiga temple as a part of series of rituals to commemorate the temple anniversary that had been commenced from Sunday, 4/20/08 up to Thursday, 4/24/08.

As its name suggests, Siat Sampian (war of sampian) is a ritual in which the participants armed with a sampian (a decoration made of woven coconut leaves) attack each other accompanied by hysterical shouts and the smile of joy. As a matter of fact, Siat Sampian is a ritual dance in which the dancers enact a battle of good and evil. As this dance the Siat Sampian dance is performed by two groups of dancers, each group consists of hundreds of dancers; the female group known as ‘permas’ (female servants of the deities) with white cloth and black sarong and ‘parekan’ (male servant of the deities) with all white attires.

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Contrary to most of people in the world who are so interested with their birthday party that they are fond of creating something to make their birthday to be a luxurious moment, Balinese prefer to celebrate their birthday with spiritual touch. Balinese call it otonan.

Otonan is quite different from common birthday party. It is held twice a year because its celebration is based on wuku. Wuku itself is based on Balinese Pawukon system in which each cycle consists of 30 wuku. Each Wuku lasts for a week; so a cycle comprises of 210 days. The wuku is a bit similar of zodiac; each name reflects characters of someone who was born on that wuku. What wuku and day a Balinese was born; on that same wuku and day the otonan is held. This birthday celebration needs not a fancy dress because Balinese use only simple traditional dress on that celebration.

Balinese believe that they were born with four guardian brothers or sisters (kanda pat). When otonan is held, the four siblings are called to gather around the child and protect her/him. Then the child is hoped to be aware of who she/he actually is with help from his/her four siblings. If she/he doesn’t care with these siblings, the they will leave him/her then she/he will be vulnerable to any magical attack and tend to do ill conducts. Otonan is a day when Balinese aware of their self. (more…)