“Obligation” is a notion that keeps Bali as it is, all socio-cultural activities of the Balinese are based on this notion. Temple ceremonies are held based on the obligations to the gods and ancestors. Big rituals can be held with the helps of others based on mutual obligation, the old law “you scratch mine I scratch yours” creates a bond of obligation which enables even a small family to hold a big ceremony.

Based on the scripture, the obligations to the gods are based on the concept of debt to the gods (Dewa Rna), Balinese believe that humans have a great debt to the gods for bestowing life and blessings to them. But in the real life, few people have good understanding on this concept. For most of the Balinese obligations to the gods are based on either the fear of divine wrath of the gods or the wish to obtain gods favor. The divine wrath of the gods is something that Balinese will not trifle with; it is the source of all calamity, sickness and disaster. And the gods favor (pasuecan Ida Bhatara) is the key to prosperity and happiness.

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Balinese Hinduism nowadays is fighting a negative stigma “ritual without essence” in religious practices in Bali. Balinese do their religion, attend ritual, and hold temple anniversary or countless other ceremonies without any knowledge on the meaning of these rituals. In sort, Balinese practice their religion without sufficient understanding on what they are practiced.

There is a great gap in the understanding of religion between the young and the old. The young which have tasted the knowledge of western logic begin to ask ‘why’; “why we do this ceremony?”; “what is the meaning of that ritual?”; “what is the significant of that offering?” etc. the old which almost have no interest in doctrine, or generalized interpretation of the religion, give unsatisfactory answer “that’s just the way it is” to the persistent questions of the young. And still uncomprehending Balinese attending temple rituals and relying on priests to tell them what to do.

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As all things Balinese, Balinese villages are peculiar, complicated, and extraordinarily diverse. There is no simple uniformity of social structure to be found over the whole of the small, crowded countryside, no straightforward form of village organization easily pictured in terms of single typological construction, no “average” village, a description of which may well stand for the whole.

Rather, there is a set of marvelously complex social systems, no one of which is quite like any other, no one of which fails to show some marked peculiarity of form. Even contiguous villages may be quite differently organized; formal elements–such as caste or kinship–of central importance in one village may be of marginal significance in another; neither simplicity nor uniformity is Balinese virtue.

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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…)