Vacationers who plan to spend their time sunbathing in Bali may find a small problem in their long-prepared plan. The rainy season comes late and the windy weather period comes early this year. They collide at the end of December 2007 which results in a kind torrent rain combines with strong wind and the span of the rain may last for a couple of days. And it is surely a bad news for the beach lovers.

The rainy season that usually starts at the end of September comes late this year. Bali begins to receive a good amount of rain at the end of December this year, and the rain last more than two days causing minor floods in various parts of the island and the worse news is the center of sunbathing and surfing in Bali, Kuta, is vulnerable to flood. The torrent rain which poured on Tuesday (12/25/07) until Wednesday (12/26/07) caused a 1–km flood on Dewi Sri Street Kuta and paralyzed the traffic.

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There are two old manuscripts of Calon Arang folktale. The first one is from Bali and the other is from Java and had been translated into Dutch by R. Ng. Purbatjaraka in Bijdr. K. I deel 82 page 110-180, and then it was sung in traditional symptom by Raden Wiradat and published by Balai Pustaka in 1931 (book series no. 942). Pramoedya Ananta Toer rewrote this folk tale in Javanese version which was written in 1462 of Caka Lunar Calendar and some other folk tales in order to save the existence of the folk tale itself which begins to disappear.

Calon Arang performance on The Annual Bali Arts Festival 2006

In the book of Pramoedya entitle ‘Cerita Calon Arang’ – the Story of Calon Arang, mentioned that Mpu Baradah, a great priest who defeated Calon Arang has a daughter named ‘Wedawati’, Weda is the Hindu’s Bible and Wati is an address for a girl or woman. So, ‘Wedawati’ is the girl who learns Weda. In his writing on Calon Arang he made some characters have same proportion; it seems that there are many central characters inside. They are: Calon Arang, King Airlangga, Mpu Baradah, and Wedawati. In the Balinese version Wedawati is not mentioned but Ratna Manggali, the daughter of Calon Arang is told more.

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In the opening of United Nation Climate Change Conference (UNCCC), Nyepi day was proposed to be world day in order to minimize the carbon dioxide ratio in the air. It is stated in local Balinese media that the world need silence for a while and Nyepi, the celebration of Caka Lunar Calendar in Bali, will be applied to fulfill the necessity.

In fact, the philosophy of Nyepi day itself does not have any correlation to the nature conservation. It is just a New Year celebration which is conducted by doing nothing and without any big party. Yes, this is a unique thing of the Balinese in celebrating their New Year while the other New Year celebrations are carried out with a lot of food, drinks, joy, and always in crowd situation but the Balinese consider the New Year day as a good chance to purify the senses and get closer to God to have a better life on the new day. Coincidentally this way of custom gives the nature chance to breath.

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Constellation of star is believed to influence on the character of a person who is born under it. Zodiac plays important role in western civilization in predicting someone character and talent while in Bali it is the month of Caka lunar is used for similar purpose. Each month in Caka lunar calendar is believed to have its own effect on the character of a person who is born in a certain month. Here is some short explanations of the character of the person based on the Caka month.

A person who is born in the first month of Caka Lunar year (Kasa) which is usually starts on June 23rd and end up on August 1st will have strong compassion toward others and good behavior.

Reckless, clumsy, or thoughtless is the characteristic of the person who is born in the second month of Caka Lunar year (Karo) which starts on August 2nd up to August 24th.

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January and February are the turbulent phase of the weather in Bali. January and February known by the Balinese as Kapitu and Kaulu (7^th and 8^th month in Caka Lunar Calendar). Kapitu (January) is well known by Balinese for its ferocious wind which sweep the island with a terrible force but the wind does not reach its apex yet, the wind of Kaulu (February) adds more turbulent touch to the ferocious wind of Kapitu.

The wild wind of Kapitu (January) will blow mainly on the island at night and accompanied by the torrent rain. Fallen trees or collapsed structures (most of them are the impermanent structures) are common phenomena in this month.

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