Flower, for Balinese, is a primary need. Tons of various kinds of flowers are used for various purposes such as material for offerings, decorations for ceremonies, medium of praying, and accessories for Balinese traditional dress especially the headdress. Flowers are withered easily; it makes the need for flower is a constant need that has to be fulfilled everyday.

To fulfill this huge constant need, a typical Balinese yard or backyard is usually filled with flower plants and they are planted in one way or another, creating a garden of flower. But home planted flower are not enough to fulfill this massive need so Balinese open flower plantations especially for the flower that are needed for offering.

(more…)

Bali Art Festival will soon begin; this festivities and feasts of art and culture will last for a month long in a sprawling five hectares complex of Art Center (Taman Werdhi). This Art Center complex, commenced in 1969 and officially opened for used in 1973, is located in Jalan Nusa Indah, Denpasar.

This complex has two entrances, on the left, is “Rinchui Sakura” gate with reminisce of Japanese style architecture. On the right side is a Candi Bentar split gate, the Candi Bentar represents greatness combines with awareness, and it is usually found in temple and palace, at the border of village, district and regency. It can also be found at entry point of Bali such as at Ngurah Rai International Airport.

(more…)

Taman selini Beach Bungalow offers a unique holidaying experience for those who seek some tranquility.

Located between volcanic mountain and the blue sea, Taman Selini, meaning “Garden of the Moon” , is a place where one can rest, play and enjoy the harmony and the beauty of the local surroundings. The simply design rooms will soothe your soul, the cuisine will delight you sense. The adventurous can climb the mountains on foot or horseback riding, visit the many important Balinese Hindu temples in the area and drivers can explore the local coral gardens.

(more…)

Earthquake for Balinese is not merely a disaster; there is a hidden meaning or a prophecy, for the sake of precision, in every occurrence of earthquake. Armed with the sacred Palelindon (treatise on earthquake) manuscript, for hundreds, Balinese decipher every sign or prophecy behind every earthquake that occurred.

In Palelindon (treatise on earthquake), the earthquakes are categorized based on the time of occurrence. An earthquake that occurs in the first month of Balinese Caka calendar (July) has different meaning from the earthquake that occurs in the fifth month (November) and the meaning an earthquake that occurs on Saturday (Saniscara) is different from the one that occurs on Wednesday (Buda).

(more…)

Hamlet, or Banjar in Balinese language, is the center of Balinese social and political life. Every Balinese is member of a banjar community, he has an obligation to attend all banjar activities, failure to attend these activities will be punished with fine and constants failure will result exclusion or banishment from the banjar, it means no body will help him when he holds a religious ceremony, especially the big one.

(more…)

Thousands of temples that scattered all over the island of Bali are not just built for a single purpose. The function of a temple can be determined by the characteristics of the temple that totally depend on the bond that bind the temple congregations to the temple. The bond may be a social, political, economical, or genealogical bond.

The social bond can be in the form of territorial bond, and teacher – student bond. The political bond is created base on the need of the king to unite his people and territory. The economical bond is created based on the similarity of the profession, for example farmer, trader, fisherman, etc. Genealogical bond is established based on kinship or clan.

(more…)