Penampahan Galungan, is a day before Galungan (a Christmas for Balinese). The word “Penampahan Galungan” derives from the word “tampah” which means “to slaughter” and “galungan” which means victory. So Penampahan Galungan is a day for Balinese to slay their Sad Ripu (six internal enemies, they are: kama (lust), loba (greed), krodha (anger), mada (drunkeness), moha (confusion) in order to achieve victory.

For six months Balinese engage with the battle of Dharma (Virtue) versus Adharma (Evil), and Penampahan Galungan is the last day of this great battle. On this day, Bhuta Amangkurat (King of negative force) comes to the world to temp Balinese. Amangkurat derives from the word “Mangku” which means “king”, “lord” or “master”. Bhuta Amangkurat temps human with the lust for power over others. If we were not in alert and weak, it would succeed in tempting us. On this day Bhuta Yadnya (offering for demon or other negative force) is held in Catuspata, (the houseyard), offering is distributed based on urip (special number for five direction, 4 for north, 5 for east, 7 for south, 9 for west and 8 for center) and direction, dedicated to Sang Tiga Bhuta Galungan (Three Evil force of Galungan which are Bhuta Galungan, Bhuta Dunggulan and Bhuta Amangkurat) in order to placate them so they will not disturb the human life.

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Many Balinese students after they graduate from Senior High school go outside Bali to continue their study instead of studying in Bali. As a result from Bali has only one state university and it has only limited majors to choose. They usually go to the west, to the big cities in Java, which serve many better and famous colleges and more majors to choose. They got better study, and yet how about their religious and cultural activities that they always did in Bali?

Actually, there, outside of Bali, are Pura (hindus’s temple) moreover there is Banjar (the smallest society organization in Bali) like in Surabaya. I Made Kris Adi Astra, one of Balinese who is studying in Jakarta complained about there is no Pura in his campus. He must ride a motorbike to reach pura Amerta Sari in bintaro. “But I prefer praying in my room. If my mood is good I will go to Pura in Cinere” he added.

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Have you ever tasted Lawar – Balinese traditional food? Lawar is one of the most favorite foods after roasted pork in Bali which contains pork, green jackfruit, grated coconut, frying oil, coconut milk, citrus leaf, and complete Balinese spices (turmeric, ‘kencur’ (kaempferia galangal), ginger, pepper, ‘kemiri’ (candlenut), ‘ketumbar’ (corriandrum sativum), ‘pala’ (myristica fragrans), brown coconut tree, ‘jangu’, salt, and lime), chilies, onion, and garlic.

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Lawar was usually made one day before the Galungan day (Christmas a la Balinese), it is called ‘Penampahan day’. The pig is slaughtered as the symbol of killing the animal’s nature in the human individuality, so it was not consumed every time and every where. But with the passing of the time as the development of the tourism sector it becomes one of the daily cuisines.

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Colossal megibung at Taman Ujung Sukasada Karangasem broke the world record of largest communal eating, 19,768 people participated in this megibung (communal eating) event. The participants came from all over Karangasem regency. The participants of megibung were divided into groups called sela; each group consists of eight people of same gender, sitting cross-legged in circle on the grass. There were 2,452 sela (group of eight people) and 152 wanci (a special table for one person).

Food for megibung was arranged in accordance with the philosophy of Balinese cosmogony. The food consisted of a big portion of nasi (steam rice) completed with the variety of side dishes like pork satay, lawar (mixture of vegetable and pork) and some vegetable. The side dishes were arranged based on the Balinese cosmogony. The gegecok putih (white mixture of vegetable and pork) was placed on the east side of the nasi (steam rice), gegecok kuning (yellow mixture of vegetable and pork) was placed on the west side of the nasi (steam rice), urab barak (red mixture of vegetable and pork) was placed on the south side of the nasi (steam rice), and the star fruit leaves lawar (black mixture of vegetable and pork) was placed on the north side of the nasi (steam rice).

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The word “megibung” is from the Balinese dialect meaning people eating communally. It is traditional custom of the Karangasem regency and normally occurs when there is a lot of work to be done in the village like a temple ceremony or social work. The megibung usually involves hundreds of people. The participants of megibung are divided into groups; each group consists of eight people of same gender, sitting cross-legged in circle on a mat or banana leaves and enjoying the delicious food. The participants eat with their right hand no spoon or fork is used.

The food eaten in megibung is arranged into sets of food called gibungan. The gibungan is set of foods comprise of various food that can be scooped easily with the hand, such as pesan (spicy fish wrapped in banana leaves), be guling (suckling pig), siap / bebek betutu (roast chicken or duck), spicy vegetables such as jukut ares (soup made from a banana tree trunk), jukut urab (strong smelling salad served warm) or lawar (grated coconut, condiments, meat and sometimes raw blood) and nasi putih / nasi kuning (white or yellow rice). Brem (balinese rice wine) or tuak (palm toddy) is always the favorite drink during megibung. The gibungan (food) is placed on a mat or banana leaves, no table is used in the megibung. (more…)