Contrary to most of people in the world who are so interested with their birthday party that they are fond of creating something to make their birthday to be a luxurious moment, Balinese prefer to celebrate their birthday with spiritual touch. Balinese call it otonan.

Otonan is quite different from common birthday party. It is held twice a year because its celebration is based on wuku. Wuku itself is based on Balinese Pawukon system in which each cycle consists of 30 wuku. Each Wuku lasts for a week; so a cycle comprises of 210 days. The wuku is a bit similar of zodiac; each name reflects characters of someone who was born on that wuku. What wuku and day a Balinese was born; on that same wuku and day the otonan is held. This birthday celebration needs not a fancy dress because Balinese use only simple traditional dress on that celebration.

Balinese believe that they were born with four guardian brothers or sisters (kanda pat). When otonan is held, the four siblings are called to gather around the child and protect her/him. Then the child is hoped to be aware of who she/he actually is with help from his/her four siblings. If she/he doesn’t care with these siblings, the they will leave him/her then she/he will be vulnerable to any magical attack and tend to do ill conducts. Otonan is a day when Balinese aware of their self. (more…)

Every region must have their own tradition which is inherited from their ancestor. Such as India with their ‘mangal sutra’ tradition and the dowry from the bride, Japan for their tea ceremony and also the growth day for them who have reached the age of 20, and many other traditions around the world. And so does Indonesia with its various areas must have diversity on its tradition. One of them is Bali.

Gebogan offering

Bali is so popular with its ‘banten’ (means in the Balinese worship which is usually made from young coconut leaves and contains fruits, flowers, leaves, betel vine, cakes, and sesari – a little money as an offering). There are many kinds of ‘banten’, hundreds might be. It is so amazing that the old people are able to remember those kinds of ‘banten’ for each different ceremony meanwhile most of the young Balinese generations do not understand on ‘banten’ and everything related on it. That’s why this sentence appears; “It’s quite difficult to be a Balinese, isn’t it?”

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One and half-hour drive from Denpasar to Sibetan village is not a waste time. The winding road to Sibetan through palm-leafed fenced terraced rice fields offers breathtaking sceneries. Rows of the rice fields perch on the slopes of the hills border here and there with bamboo and snake fruit plants create a stunning view to behold that makes one and half-hour drive seems to last only a few moments.

Situated on the foot of the majestic and still active Mt Agung, Sibetan is a quiet and traditional village, with cool temperature, and clean air. This village is well known among the Balinese as the “Home of Salak (snake fruit),” Thousands of salak trees from 14 species grow here due to the agreeable climate and extreme fertility of the soil. The Sibetan village owes this extreme soil fertility and abundance of salak plants to the Mount Agung that erupted in 1963, blanketing the village farmlands sending volcanic dust and rocks, making a return to normal agriculture impossible.

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