On 2/10/08, the biggest mass ritual trance ritual which is known as Pengerebongan was held in Petilan temple, in Kesiman village Denpasar. Here are some snapshots from the most famous trance dance in the island.

Petilan temple is situated near the palace of Kesiman many people calls this temple, Pengerebongan temple due to the popularity of the pengerebongan trance ritual that is held in this temple. There are many speculations on the origin of the word “Pengerebongan”; the widely accepted origin of this word is the phrase “ngerehang barong” or “recharging the magical power of the Barong” (protective deities in form of mythological beast). This speculation is supported by the fact that many Barong and Rangda from Kesiman and surrounding villages come to participate in the ceremony.

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Cockfighting with wagering in it was banned by government in accordance with eradicating gambling policy in 1981, but cockfighting in Bali showed its strong resilience and survived the test. In 2003 cockfighting was put into greater test, Made Mangku Pastika was appointed as Bali chief police and he waged a war against all kind of gambling especially cockfighting. Some gamblers who make a living in cockfighting arena told me that the reign of Mangku Pastika was the time of hardship but as quoting words of Tupac: Bali chief police come and go but cockfighting stays in time. Once again cockfighting survives and the bitter experiences contribute a great deal to the face of cockfighting nowadays.

What lies behind the strong resilience of cockfighting against all odds is not something that can be achieved in a day or two, it is a result of a custom that have been practiced for hundreds of years, part of Balinese culture that Balinese have been lived with over centuries. Cockfighting has interwoven deeply in socio-religious life of the Balinese, there is a three-round cockfight known as tabuh rah in most of temple anniversary or in a big ceremony that can be transformed easily into a cockfight for gambling purpose after the ceremonial three-round fight is over, the additional fights may run up to ten rounds; sometimes the gamblers wagering in the ceremonial three-round fight on a pretext to enliven the fight. By adopting this religious context in staging a cockfight the gamblers can satisfy their need of wagering at the very least they can wage in the ceremonial-three- round match.

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Pagoda-like, multi-tiered Meru is surely the pinnacle of Balinese architecture, the prima ballerina of temple courtyard. But it is not the biggest structure which is produced by the Balinese. When it comes to size, wantilan or arena for cockfighting is a king pin. Wantilan can be found almost in every village all over the island, each village usually has its own wantilan near the village center; a big temple usually has its own wantilan. The vast number of wantilan exists in the island is a reminder of the popularity of the cockfighting in the bygone days.

The Wantilan is an open all-side structure covered by two or three roofs in pagoda like arrangement. The Wantilan consists of a large square that contains one two smaller square on whose angle the round uprights supporting the roof stand. The small square in the middle of wantilan serves as cockfight arena, this arena is the most important part of the wantilan.

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Humans invent various games of chance to satisfy their needs of gambling, Balinese are no exception. Bali is no gambler paradise compare to Las Vegas, Monte Carlo or Macau. In fact, the Indonesian government has forbidden any form of gambling. But still there are some chances to hold a game of chance or two. Balinese have devised a range of games of chance from kocokan, a simple game played with dices to cockfighting, with its complex rules and traditions. Apart from cockfighting the most popular games of chance in Bali are Kocokan and Bola Adil.

flickr.com/photos/miguelsantanna/

Kocokan is a kind of roulette in which the players put some money on a vinyl mat which is decorated with six different pictures of cartoon version of Hindu gods, demons or animals, the players put the bets on a picture, the banker has three large six-sided dices, the faces matching the pictures of the mat, he puts the dices on a plate and covers them with an upside-downed bowl, shakes them up, and opens the cover to determine the resulting faces showing up determining the winning bets.

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Here a nice piece on Clifford and Hildred Geertz experience when dealing with Balinese.

Early in April of 1958, my wife and I arrived, malarial and diffident, in a Balinese village we intended, as anthropologists, to study. A small place, about five hundred people, and relatively remote, it was its own world. We were intruders, professional ones, and the villagers dealt with us as Balinese seem always to deal with people not part of their life who yet press themselves upon them: as though we were not there. For them, and to a degree for ourselves, we were nonpersons, specters, invisible men.

We moved into an extended family compound (that had been arranged before through the provincial government) belonging to one of the four major factions in village life. But except for our landlord and the village chief, whose cousin and brother-in-law he was, everyone ignored us in a way only a Balinese can do. As we wandered around, uncertain, wistful, eager to please, people seemed to look right through us with a gaze focused several yards behind us on some more actual stone or tree. Almost nobody greeted us; but nobody scowled or said anything unpleasant to us either, which would have been almost as satisfactory.

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Magecel is a unique Balinese pastime which strongly related to cockfighting. Magecel can be defined as an activity of fondling and exercising fighting cock. As any activity in Bali, magecel is done collectively; sometimes four up to a dozen men bring with their fighting cocks sit under the canopy of banyan, other big tree or in the hamlet meeting hall fondling and discussing the merit and demerit of their own fighting cocks, sometimes mock battles without steel spurs are staged to exercise the fighting ability of the cocks.

photo taken from flickr.com/photos/cafiso/

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