Penampahan Galungan, is a day before Galungan (a Christmas for Balinese). The word “Penampahan Galungan” derives from the word “tampah” which means “to slaughter” and “galungan” which means victory. So Penampahan Galungan is a day for Balinese to slay their Sad Ripu (six internal enemies, they are: kama (lust), loba (greed), krodha (anger), mada (drunkeness), moha (confusion) in order to achieve victory.

For six months Balinese engage with the battle of Dharma (Virtue) versus Adharma (Evil), and Penampahan Galungan is the last day of this great battle. On this day, Bhuta Amangkurat (King of negative force) comes to the world to temp Balinese. Amangkurat derives from the word “Mangku” which means “king”, “lord” or “master”. Bhuta Amangkurat temps human with the lust for power over others. If we were not in alert and weak, it would succeed in tempting us. On this day Bhuta Yadnya (offering for demon or other negative force) is held in Catuspata, (the houseyard), offering is distributed based on urip (special number for five direction, 4 for north, 5 for east, 7 for south, 9 for west and 8 for center) and direction, dedicated to Sang Tiga Bhuta Galungan (Three Evil force of Galungan which are Bhuta Galungan, Bhuta Dunggulan and Bhuta Amangkurat) in order to placate them so they will not disturb the human life.

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Balinese dances, dance dramas and music and all kind of arts at first in Bali are not art for art’s sake. All choreography, compositions and adances are ultimately rooted in religion. And masked dance is not an exception. Like an extravagantly supplemented canang offering, they are offered to the gods at home and temple festivals. Mask dances is also an offering to God. In addition, theatrical mask dances are used for, planting and harvest celebrations and at times of transition in the lives of individuals and communities. Mask dances, such as Topeng, also discuss politics of the past and present, and morals.

Masks may represent gods, animals, demons, or humans and can be whole masks or half masks depending on the dance they are used for. Masks can also be sacred or non-sacred depending on their purpose and preparation. Because the mystical theatre in Bali has captured the attention of so many foreigners to the land, non-sacred masks are made abundantly for sale. However, the best of the mask carvers have not abandoned their calling to create the sacred, consecrated masks when they have a “feeling” to do so.

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Traditional religious ceremony in Bali can never be apart from rice products as offerings. Those can be anything that has been cooked. Two rice products that is a must for Balinese in every traditional ceremony is traditional cakes named Uli and Begina.

Uli and Begina are made of sticky rice known as ketan in Bali. Unlike Uli that has smoother structure, Begina is formed by many full grains of sticky rice. There are sweet and salty Uli and Begina.

Though Uli and Begina are both made of sticky rice but the process of making these cakes are different. For Uli, you have to crush the steamed sticky rice, and mix it with grated coconut which has the same amount with the amount of sticky rice. Palm sugar (brown) sugar will be added into it if you want to make the sweet one. Then it is dried but before that Uli have to be sliced as thin as possible. If the sun is blazing hot it takes only a day to dry the Uli. However, most people nowadays like to eat it without frying or drying it. The fried Uli nowadays, are mostly use as offering rather than for the purpose of consumption.

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In the paradise island of Bali, when it comes to offering (banten) for the ceremony the Balinese women holds the sway. Balinese women prepare all the offerings (banten) that is needed for the ceremony. If you look at glance you can see that the stuffs called banten consists of various parts and hard to remember all in a few minutes. Each stuff has its own role and function. Sometimes if banten is not complete then traditional ceremony can not be held. There is a stuff named tumpeng which is need in several ceremonies.

Tumpeng is made from rice. Balinese women usually form the rice with their hands and with help of shaper. This shaper is usually created by their hands using coconut leaves. Its shape like cone then obviously rice which is put into it will have the same form and Balinese call it tumpeng. In order to produce tight and firm tumpeng Balinese women should press the rice to the cone using their thumb. Their thumb will be tired when they have to make 100 until 300 tumpeng in each Galungan and Kuningan day.

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Many Balinese students after they graduate from Senior High school go outside Bali to continue their study instead of studying in Bali. As a result from Bali has only one state university and it has only limited majors to choose. They usually go to the west, to the big cities in Java, which serve many better and famous colleges and more majors to choose. They got better study, and yet how about their religious and cultural activities that they always did in Bali?

Actually, there, outside of Bali, are Pura (hindus’s temple) moreover there is Banjar (the smallest society organization in Bali) like in Surabaya. I Made Kris Adi Astra, one of Balinese who is studying in Jakarta complained about there is no Pura in his campus. He must ride a motorbike to reach pura Amerta Sari in bintaro. “But I prefer praying in my room. If my mood is good I will go to Pura in Cinere” he added.

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Offerings are the most visible way of Balinese in expressing their devotion to God. They make various offering for various ceremony range from the simple daily offering to the gigantic Sarad that is used in a rare and grand ceremony. The offering is an obligatory part of ceremony that no ceremony is considered complete without the presence of adequate offerings.

As a matter of fact there are various kind of offerings and a certain ceremony needs certain kinds and amount of offering that differ from other ceremonies; for example a temple anniversary needs a certain number of Suci offerings, a certain number of pregembal offerings, etc, all kinds and amounts of offerings needed in a ceremony in other words a temple anniversary ceremony will not be considered complete if all the required offerings for a temple ceremony can not be fulfilled.

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