Omen, a concept that can be found in every civilization around the globe. Some people believe it, some do not but each civilization has its own version of omen and develops their own way in interpreting a natural phenomenon that is believed to be a sign of what will happen in the future; and Balinese is no exception.

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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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Tomorrow evening, 05/27/08, the real Sanghyang dedari dance will be held in Bukit Buluh Temple, in Banjar Gunaksa (Gunaksa hamlet), Ababi village, Karangasem regency. When I say the “real Sanghyang Dedari” what I refer to is not the popular Sanghyang Dedari dance that is staged for tourist consumption in Batubulan or other tourism resort. The Sanghyang Dedari that will be performed tomorrow is a ritual that is performed to exorcise the plague or pestilence.

Here is some information in relation with Sanghyang Dedari: Sanghyang Dedari is a sacred dance which can be found Badung, Gianyar and Bangli regency. This sacred dance is used to ward the pestilence or plague which swept Bali when the fanged demon living on the little island of Nusa Penida comes to Bali. Two dancers are chosen from all the girls of the village for their psychic aptitudes by the temple priest, to receive the spirit of heavenly nymphs, Dedari Supraba and Tunjung Biru (Blue Lotus). At the death temple, the Sanghyang Dedari dancers in white skirts kneel before a brazier of smoking incense in front of the altar.

During a trance ceremony, the priest makes offerings to the temple deity, requesting protection for the village. A chorus of women is seated in a circle around them, singing the Sanghyang song, which asks the celestial nymphs to descend from heaven and dance before the people through the girls’ bodies and incense is wafted about them.

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The kite season in Bali comes early this year, if you look up to the sky of Bali this month you can see dozens of kites fly glide calmly riding the strong east wind. The kite season in Bali which usually starts on first month in traditional Caka calendar (July) comes early on May this year.

The kite season usually starts on July when the sky is clear, the temperature is good and the sea wind blows heavily to the land. This month though the sky is not yet clear and the menacing dark clouds appear in some areas dozens but the wind is strong, many Balinese fly their kites; the sky of Denpasar and Badung is already decorated with dozens of colorful kites.

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During his life Rai often became a leader in his team during his childhood or after. Once Rai and his friend wanted to enter Pura (temple) in Samuan – not far from his village, but they were stopped by the people who had authority on the temple because they were using pants. He asked his friends to take gunny-sacks and they were used as sarong, some of Rai’s friends took kinds of towels as sarong. Of course those people were very angry for that and snapped at Rai. Due to the emotion of a teenager, Rai snapped back at them. Nobody dared to stop him entering the temple. In ± 1940s, he was a lieutenant in Prayoda Corps that belonged to the Dutch which was prepared to face the 2nd World War in Europe. In 1943 when Japan in Bali, he work in MBK (Mitsui Bushan Kaisha). The aim of MBK is to force villagers to give away their rice to Japan. This made Rai hated Japan so much. So, in 1944 Rai and some Balinese youngsters joined PETA, troop to defense the mother land. Here they fight against Japan with an underground resistance movement.

On October 1945 after the Indonesia Independence, BKR (Badan Keamanan Rakyat/People Safety Organization) was made in Bali and then it was integrated with the other organizations that concerned on how to defense the Indonesia Independence into TKR (Tentara Keamanan Rakyat/People Safety Soldier). Rai was a major in TKR. After the invasion of Denpasar on 11 April 1946 and after passing some battles in Badung and Tabanan, the crusader did a consolidation at Mundukmalang on 17 April 1946. Here, Rai decided to consolidate all organization into DPRI (Dewan Perjuangan Republik Indonesia/The Council of Republic of Indonesia’s Struggle) and Rai was chosen to lead DPRI and then he led DPRI Sunda Kecil (Bali and Nusa Tenggara).

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Yesterday, I accidentally visit the Pura Sadha (Sadha temple) in Kapal village, Badung regency. A feature in this temple quickly arouse my curiosity, this temple has replicas of sacred mountains in form of multi-tiered-roofs shrines known as meru that can be found in the north and east part of inner courtyard of the temple.

As a matter of fact the replica of mountains and lakes in the form of multi-tiered-roofs shrines (meru) are standard features of South Bali temples, but only when I visited Sadha Temple I realized their significant and function. The main purpose of placing replicas of mountains and lakes in temple is to save the time and effort needed to actually visit them since in the yester centuries pilgrimage to the mountains and lakes need a great deal preparation and time. These replicas serve as representative shrines for the gods who resides in the mountains or lakes all over Bali.

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