No Balinese in his right mind will hold a ceremony without consulting a calendar for an auspicious day for the execution of the ceremony, and the best calendar for determining a good day for ceremony is a Modern Balinese paper calendar. This calendar is an amalgamation of three different calendars, the pawukon calendar, Saka lunar calendar and Gregorian calendar. Modern Balinese calendar contains various information ranges from the date to the date of anniversary of various temples all over Bali, from the occurrence of full moon and new moon to list of auspicious and inauspicious day.

The main section of the calendar consists of columns of the dates, each square of these columns contains a date in the middle of the square and surrounded by the names of the day of this particular date, a red dot if the date coincides with full moon and a black dot if it coincides with new moon. Each date in this calendar may have ten different names as a result of the complexity of Pawukon Calendar.

(more…)

What makes a person a Balinese? Answering this question will need a closer look on the characteristics of the Balinese. With no further ado, I present you, the Balinese.

Balinese are bound by their family, local banjar (community), their desa (consists of a few banjar), various temple organizations, rice growing groups, a multitude of special interest groups, and even the ancestors. Balinese are not independent people, they are connected to various social and religious organizations; and these connections define who they are. It is not just that Balinese are influenced by their connections, but that they form a part of the Balinese. A Balinese is composed of all his relations. There is even a saying that when someone marries a Balinese man, she not just marries her Balinese lover but also marry his whole family and community, since she will also help her husband in fulfilling his role in his community, family, desa, temples, etc.

(more…)

Arak, most popular Balinese traditional liquor is distilled tuak (palm beer), and such it has much higher alcohol content than tuak. Arak is clear and colorless, and has a very sharp, biting taste. Since there is no fermentation going on, it can be bottled – in beer bottles– capped, and sold in almost all stores that the Balinese patronize but the bottled arak that is sold freely is low quality arak, for ceremonial purpose only. Arak for consumption purpose is a high quality one and illegal, sold secretly in small roadside stalls, only buyers that are known by the sellers are served.

(more…)

The world of Balinese is the equilibrium of two forces of nature, positive and negative force. The positive force is represented by the God and negative forces represented by the Bhuta Kala, But what exactly is, or are, bhuta kala? The average Balinese would reply that bhutas and kalas, or bhuta kala, are evil spirits that cause a great many of the small and large problems of mankind, from a lost watch to a crippling disease. To them, the bhutas kalas have no other mission on earth than to annoy and persecute humans, making people ill, disturbing and polluting anything. They can go into people’s bodies and make them insane or turn them into idiots.

flickr.com/photos/myfenek/

(more…)

Bali is the land of symbol, all product of Balinese activity is a symbolization of their faith and belief, and offering is the hallmark of all Balinese symbolization. Offering is a symbol of Balinese devotion the God and in some areas in Bali offering is even considered as symbolization of God.

(more…)

Pura (temple), the sanctuary of Hinduism in Bali now undergoes a serious drawback on architectural diversity and environmental conscious architecture. The renovation and restoration of Pura (temple) all over Bali show an annoying uniformity in architecture and building material. The Pura (temple) from Karangasem on the east to Jembrana on the west, from Buleleng on the north to Badung on the south imitate the architectural design of The Besakih temple (the mother temple of Bali) which used black lava stone from mount Agung as a main building material.

It is understandable that the culture is changing from time to time, and the architecture of Pura (temple) cannot escape from this change. But an important Balinese value, Desa, Kala, Patra (place, time and circumstance) is missing in midst of this architectural uniformity. The Balinese culture has a great diversity based on the Desa, Kala, Patra (place, time and circumstance) concept, each village has its own way and interpretation in implementing the Hinduism and Balinese culture, frankly speaking each village has its own culture that is different from the others. This diversity is also found in temple and building architecture, each Pura (temple) in Bali represents the characteristic of that particular area. The Bukit area is well known for its limestone, this stone is used as a main material for temples around the Bukit.

(more…)