Omen for Balinese is an important thing and it can be a serious problem if it occurs inside a house compound. For Balinese an ill omen if it occurs inside a house compound, it signifies that the house compound is “hot”. A “hot” house compound in Balinese point of view is not fit for living since it will bring misfortune for its inhabitants, make them ill, confuse, short tempered, quarrel with no apparent reason, and have short life span.

Omen that occurs in a house compound that signifies the “hot” condition of the house compound is usually in the form of the birth of strange animal for example a cat with three eyes, a dog with two tails, etc; the appearance of strange plant such as coconut with two or three branches; bees or wasps make a nest inside the house; snakes come out of nowhere inside the house compound; blood come out of nowhere, thousands of worms come out of nowhere in the house compound or big fungus growth on the wall of the house.

Accident, death, or fight that cause blood to be shed on the ground is considered an ill omen that signifies a “hot” house compound. Accidents that can be classified as an ill omen are as follow: a tree falls down on the house or family temple with no apparent reason; a house, a kitchen or family temple falls down; someone runs amuck into the house compound or some injured himself badly until blood shed to the ground.

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A day prior to Nyepi, or Balinese New Year, the great Tawur Kesanga ritual is held all over Bali. The word “tawur” literally means, “pay” in a sense of a payment to the bhuta kala, personification to negative force, in order to restore the harmony of life. And kesanga is the ninth month in Balinese Caka calendar. The kesanga is considered the worst month by the Balinese, with troublesome rainy season, and when even the earth is said to be sick and feverish (panes). It is believed that the Lord of Hell, Yama, sweeps Hades of devils, which fall on Bali, making it imperative that the whole of the island be purified.

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The tawur kesanga ritual is always held on the new moon of the ninth month of Balinese Caka calendar that always coincide with the spring equinox. This ritual is believed to be an effective way to purify the island in order to make a harmonious relation between human being and God, human and human, and human and their environments.

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The enormous water-buffaloes, which in Bali appear in two colors, a dark muddy gray, and a pale, almost transparent pink, an albino variety are usually found in the river with their masters, small boys wearing only oversize sun-hats. A water-buffalo will not hesitate to attack a tiger; their ponderous calm and their gigantic horns are awe-inspiring to Europeans, who have been told that their odor infuriates the buffaloes. They have often charged white people for no apparent reason, although the smallest Balinese boy can manhandle the great beasts. They love to lie in the water and be scrubbed by their little guardians, who climb all over them and hang from their horns when they take them for their evening bath. The buffalo tolerates the children perhaps as a rhinoceros tolerates the birds that eat the ticks on its back.

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