As the sun sets and darkness replaces the illumination of the sunlight, night makes its way to the earth. “Night” is a phenomenon that all nations in the world have their own point of view, including Balinese. Balinese has their perspective on dealing with night. However, this perspective has greatly changed in the course 50 years due to modernization and tourism.

Title: The Dagger Attack On Rangda, Artist: I Gusti Nyoman Lempad, Media: Ink and tempera on papper, Size: 24 x 33 cm, Year: 1939s, Courtesy: Neka Art Museum.

In the bygone days, night was considered as the time for supernatural beings, malignant spirits, bhuta kala, leak (witch) filled the darkness of the night. The older generation of Balinese see the night as a dangerous time for traveling outside the house compound, though the gamelan at that time was held in the evening but it never lasted until late at night.

What made the night so frightful in those days? Leak (witch) was the answer. Malignant spirits and bhuta kala are believed to be ferocious at dusk and the night is the time for the witches to exercise their magic and fighting among them. My mother and grandmother still can recall the night they watch a leak fight, though all they can see at that time is the collision of two balls of fire. (Covarrubias also gives an account of leak fight in Denpasar in his book “The Island of Bali”. Leak at that time also credited for harassing people who dared to go out during the nighttime.

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When the bomb went off in Kuta last October, the reactions were mainly those of grief, horror and surprise. After the first few weeks of emergency care, it was time to try and figure out how to help those affected heal–on all levels: emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually and economically. The Bali Relief efforts have been enormous–an outpouring of medications (80 percent of them outdated, I’m told), medical support, and money came onto this tiny island. After all the fanfare, and the extravanga free concerts with the big name stars, a number of us wondered what else could be done.

Cody Schwaiko of YKIP (Yayasan Kemanusian Ibu Pertiwi, which was initially established to assist the bomb victims) asked me if I knew a dalang (shadow puppeteer) who could create a story about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) that could be taken into the villages, particularly in and around Kuta.

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Dusk for Balinese is considered the most dangerous time during the whole day especially around 6 or 7 PM. These hours are known as Sandhi Kala. The word “sandhi” means “secret” and the word “kala” means ‘time”; so “sandhi kala” means “a time full of secret”. Full of unknown things that cannot be seen or felt by common sense.

This time is believed to be the transition between day and night, the time when nocturnal spirits, bhuta kala, and other supernatural creatures come from their hiding place and enjoying their time since the night is believed to be the time for nocturnal creatures to do all their activities. It is believed that the spirits and bhuta kala are in high spirit during the sandi kala, in a magically dangerous day such as Kajeng Kliwon (Friday the 13th a la Balinese), a set of segehan offering is given to the Bhuta Kala during this time and since it is believed that the bhuta kala can only move in straight line and can not turn sharply to left or right there is a great chance for a human wander around during the sandhi kala to collide with the bhuta kala.

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Speaking about monster or scary creatures, Egyptians have their mummy, Pennsylvanians boast of their Dracula, but what do Balinese have? Since Leak is technically a human who change their shape into various other scary creatures or weird things and can assume their human form again when their time is over so it cannot be categorized as monster or scary creatures and the last choice for the equivalence of monster and scary creature in Balinese culture is Bhuta Kala.

An exorcist priest destroy Bhuta Kala and hobglobins by meditating. I Rena, Batuan (c. 1940), China ink and watercolour on paper, 25 x 38 cm. Basle, llc 16459 (E. Schlager Beguest, 1971).

Though philosophically Bhuta Kala is defined as negative force of nature not necessarily monsters or scary creatures but most Balinese believe that Bhuta Kala has scary and weird form. There are Bhuta Kalas with monstrous eyes, small heads, large stomach, flaming hairs, bald heads, some consisting of only right or left side of the body, flying head (begoong), of one arm with a face (tangan-tangan), a trunk with a face (lawean), a knee (katugtug), a leg with a face (enjek pupu) or flaying entrails (basang-basang).

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Sema, or cemetery is always a source of horror for Balinese. It is the place where the spirits of uncremated corpses wander around, playground for evil spirit and bhuta kala and of course, hunting ground for leak, the witch of Bali who fond of the flesh of newly buried corpse. Even during the day, Balinese consider sema as a terrifying place to visit and they will avoid it if possible. At night, no explanation needed.

flickr.com/photos/wandering_angel/

Sema is usually situated on the seaward-west (southwest in southern part of Bali) corner of the village. Balinese believe that seaward-west is the direction of hell, the direction that is guarded by Rudra, god of evil spirit, leak and bhuta kala. This direction is considered to be inauspicious fits to be used as cemetery where evil spirits will gather and perform their bloody orgy.

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Brem, sweet rice wine that is usually found in traditional markets or roadside stalls large Bintang beer bottles is one of three popular Balinese liquors – other are arak, and tuak. Like arak and tuak, brem is in addition of being a beverage, a necessity for matabuh (offering liquid for bhuta kala, evil spirit, demon, etc) in almost all religious ceremonies. Very large quantities of it are made and used for that purpose. This is usually low grade, homemade brem, and it is often mixed with water. It is a pat of custom in some areas in Bali to bring a bottle of brem or two as a present for the family that hold a religious ceremony or as an offering in a temple anniversary.

Brem is made from glutinous or “sticky” white rice, known as ketan in Balinese, and a smaller amount of Indonesian black rice, called injin in bali. Both ketan and injin are less commonly used in cooking than common white rice, baas. The sticky ketan is made into various Balinese traditional cookies for offering and other religious purpose. The black injin, is made into delicious traditional dessert (jaja injin) by cooking and serving with brown palm sugar and coconut milk. Since injin is rather expensive, only enough is used in brem to impart the desired final color.

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