Bali is an island which is very active in celebrating traditional ceremony. Almost everyday, all over the island, traditional ceremonies and celebrations are held. And those celebrations and ceremonies need security forces to ensure the ceremonies and celebrations are going well. In this case this task is tackled by Pecalang.

If you take a look in every Balinese ceremony you will know what pecalang are and how they looks like. Pecalang resemble police that they work in group. They (pecalang) use black-red-white checkerboard-pattern “saput” (a traditional Balinese lower cloth which is tied in waist and is used to cover the main cloth (kamben). The main cloth is longer and covers the legs). They also use head-cloth named “udeng” and sometimes using waist coat.

Etymologically, Pecalang derived from ‘celang’ means vigilant. That is logic because pecalang have to secure the ceremony process from any problems. They worked based on the traditional rules (awig awig) and appointed by the member of Banjar (hamlet). (more…)

Letting their hair fall loose is taboo for Balinese women - especially in public and in traditional ceremonies - even though a girl’s hair might be ever so beautiful. Loose hair is only seen when a Balinese woman is having an argument or when she is mourning or as a result of undertaking a particular oath. Or for certain other purposes for example for black magic. Other than this, a Balinese woman’s hair must be done up, or tied back. There are various ways of tying the hair according to the situation and purpose. In everyday life, to avoid her hair coming untied, a Balinese woman will wear a cloth head dress called tengkuluk. In public places such as the market, a towel is often used like this by the women traders. The types and shapes of these head dresses are very varied.

One of them is called lelunakan, a development of the head dress which has a very attractive form. The cloth used is a beautiful light scarf: the ends are arranged neatly and there is a wide opening, so that it protects the head and ties the tightly coiled hair. It appears that the lelunakan originated from the head dress used by the women of Denpasar. In its further development it has tended to be considered the special style of the women of the whole regency of Badung. Now, because of its beauty, it has even been adopted by women throughout Bali.

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