Flower, for Balinese, is a primary need. Tons of various kinds of flowers are used for various purposes such as material for offerings, decorations for ceremonies, medium of praying, and accessories for Balinese traditional dress especially the headdress. Flowers are withered easily; it makes the need for flower is a constant need that has to be fulfilled everyday.

To fulfill this huge constant need, a typical Balinese yard or backyard is usually filled with flower plants and they are planted in one way or another, creating a garden of flower. But home planted flower are not enough to fulfill this massive need so Balinese open flower plantations especially for the flower that are needed for offering.

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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.

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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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At the beginning of 7th century, a Balinese prince, the great Erlangga, became the king of a Javanese in east Java, the Kingdom of Daha. His mother, Mahendradatta, was a Javanese princess who ruled Bali with her Balinese husband, Dharmodayana, until the husband, suspecting her of practicing evil magic, exiled her to the forest.

When Erlangga’s father died, leaving Mahendradatta as a rangda or a widow, she conspired to use her band of pupils trained in the black arts to destroy Erlangga’s kingdom. Her chief grudge against Erlangga because of fancied insults to her beautiful daughter, Ratna Menggali – the noblemen of Daha had refused her in marriage for fear of her mother’s evil reputation and the failure of Airlangga to prevent his father ( Dharmodayana) to marry again.

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Magic in Balinese life is an integrated part of daily life, there is no clear distinction between the real phenomenon and magical one. There is no word for “miracle” in Balinese language, since in everyday life; Balinese do not differentiate between miracle and common phenomenon. All phenomenons however strange it is, has an explanation and the favorite explanation from a Balinese for a weird event is “the imbalance” between the positive and negative force produces this strange event and a kind of ceremony is needed to restore the balance.

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