Here is an interesting excerpt on Balinese Household that is taken from Ayami Nakatani’s Paper entitled “Private or Public? : Defining Female Roles in the Balinese Ritual Domain”.

Apart from communal temples, public offices, schools and shops, the territory of a banjar (a sub-unit of the village) is divided into walled house compounds (pakarangan) with high and narrow gates facing each other on opposite sides of alley ways. These enclosed compounds house one or more households and a small family temple.

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Here is an interesting excerpt about Balinese and Balinese community in Netherlands taken from an article written by Ana Dragojlovic entitled Performing Balinese Femininity in Migration. Without further ado here is the excerpt

Banjar is the civic organisation central to the social organisation of village life in Bali. According to previous scholarship, ideally a banjar in Bali is a residential association within the encompassing ‘customary village,’ the desa adat. The banjar is responsible for organising and maintaining local public facilities and it may request the labour of its members for this or any other communal goal. Tight solidarity and strong social ties within the banjar make it the centre of most village social and economic activities. Banjar organisations in Bali have been undergoing a series of changes, on the one hand influenced by the Indonesian state and on the other by local dynamics within villages. Because of increasing migration from the 1970s to locations outside Bali and Indonesia, some Balinese started organising themselves into networks in their adopted countries. Those networks, while often bearing the name of banjar, are characterised by numerous differences and adaptations appropriate to the circumstances in the new country. In the Netherlands, banjar adherents gather twice a year to celebrate Kuningan/Galungan.

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The development of Balinese civilization has a quite long history. The first evidences of human appearance in Bali date back to the Stone Age, tens of thousands years ago, with the founding of few artifacts that are believed to be reminiscent of small bands of hunter-gatherers. From that time civilization in Bali develops, and survives until present days. It is obvious that during thousands years of development many outside influences have great contribution in shaping the Balinese civilization, and among many sources of significant outside influences, the sages from Java gave significant contribution to religious, social, and political aspect of Balinese civilization.

Many Javanese sages came to Bali but only three of them gave significant influences to Balinese civilization; they were Rsi Markandya, Mpu Kuturan, and Danghyang Nirartha.

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Before we proceed to the fate of kulkul, in present days, it is better to shed some light on what the kulkul is. Kulkul is Balinese wooden slit gong. It is made of long, hollowed-out wooden block whose upper end are sometimes carved into anthropomorphic heads. A hard and long lasting wood, such as teak, is usually used as kulkul material. The size of the kulkul is determined by the size of the kulkul tower, bigger tower needs bigger kulkul.

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Many people agree that Bali has interesting culture and art. They love to see all the art and cultural products from the fine arts to the dance and from shadow puppet to traditional drama performance. Its ceremonies are always adored by local and foreign tourists alike. Besides, its friendly people draw lot of visitors from various countries and areas.

However, Bali nowadays has changed because of globalization and penetration of other cultures. Balinese tend to be individual and the area that actually should be utilized for agricultural activities is narrowed. Many other changes have occurred. Then some people who care and want to preserve Balinese cultural heritage held a congress, named Balinese Cultural Congress I at ISI (Indonesian Art Institute) Denpasar.

On June 14-16, 2008, many local and international experts and people who have great concern for Balinese culture were invited to this congress. This congress, which was opened by Cultural and Tourism Minister, assembled representatives from UNESCO and other countries like: UK, Australia, India, and Japan. In addition, Balinese artists, press, scientists, expert in Balinese architecture, Balinese legislatives, and many more attended this congress that was held as a part of Bali Art Festival 2008. They shared their ideas together to find a preventive action so that Balinese do not lose their identity.

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Pecalang (traditional Balinese security force) is responsible for securing the traditional ceremony or events which are held in Bali. From directing the traffic on the road near the venue of a religious ceremony in order to avoid the traffic jam to patrolling the streets in Silence Day (Nyepi day) are responsibilities of them. The problem is Silence Day oblige people not to go outside home. However, Pecalang have to go outside to do their responsibility. This is such of dilemma.

Silence day is a day when people who stayed in Bali are forbidden doing activities based on Catur Brata Panyepian. This regulation consists of four things that must be obeyed. Those are:

• Amati Geni means people are forbidden to do activities related with fire including switch on the lamp on the night, cooking, etc.
• Amati Karya means people are prohibited to do any activity.
• Amati Lelungan means people are prohibited to go outside their house compound.
• Amati Lelanguan means people are forbidden to enjoy any kind of entertainment.

When people are forbidden to go outside home and to do any activity, pecalang is allowed to do that. For they have to make sure that Catur Brata Panyepian is practiced by all of people. They patrol on the streets inside the territory of Banjar (hamlet) which the pecalang is assigned. And when there is any violation of Catur Brata Panyepian they will ask them-who break the regulation-to obey Catur Brata Panyepian. Indeed, what pecalang do is giving a great effect especially for children who usually use this chance to play in the road.

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