Galungan Day

It felt very special to be in the only place on the planet where the huge ceremony of Galungan was being celebrated today. Although Bali is a Hindu culture, this festival is not part of the worship of Indian followers of the faith. It is the biggest day on the calendar, and the streets had a distinct holiday lull about them.

We had been watching the preparations over the past few days, particularly the vast number of offerings being prepared and the lavish decoration of family and village temples. Yesterday afternoon we went on a penjor-spotting drive. While some were in the late stages of preparation, most were fully decorated, with narrow village streets transformed by the swaying poles. Each seemed subtly different from its neighbour, and we were told today that although the symbolism remains constant, different villages have different styles of decoration, although our eyes are not yet keen enough to pick this.

The penjor is a symbol of victory against evil spirits and must contain agricultural products such are used in daily life. Thus you will find rice and vegetables featuring on each penjor in some capacity while the swaying, bowing upper section denotes respect and acknowledgement of the gods. This tradition has been going on for centuries and its elements are passed through the generations so that it can never be forgotten. The Balinese social structure of village temple and banjar ensures that everyone complies with these demanding, and expensive, spiritual obligations. Not that you will ever hear a Balinese person grumble about their religious duty.

Today was the main event, (and Galungan is always a Wednesday) but Monday, Peyajaan Galungan, was the day of baking special cakes (jaja) to be used in the offerings. On Tuesday (Penampahan Galungan), as well as the erection of the penjors, animals such as pigs and chickens are sacrificed and offered in order to erase negativity in both the personal and broader environment. Although I confess to feeling squeamish at the notion of animal sacrifice, I reminded myself that we do it too for major festivals (turkey for Thanksgiving or Christmas, anyone?) but in a way that is so sanitised and removed from our daily reality we scarcely give it a thought. There's no avoiding the reality here, and there is no waste as the village shares the meat and dishes served today, such as lawar, babi guling and sate are the result.

Dressed in our finery we were honoured to enjoy a meal today at our friends' compound and left with a packet of cakes and fruits from the offerings in the temple.

The streets of Ubud, and all over Bali, tonight reverberated to the sounds of drums and gongs as the Barong, symbol of good, led processions of young and old, marking the end of an important family day.

Between now and Kuningan, in ten days' time, there will be further ceremony and worship, but with less intensity until Kuningan day itself, which we won't be here to see.

 Only three more sleeps left for this trip. Where have the months gone?

Sibuk, sibuk

Or, busy, busy. After a couple of days of seclusion feeling blah, it was a surprise to venture out and see how busy everybody had become. It felt like Christmas Eve in the West, with increased traffic and longer than usual queues in the supermarket.

Some penjors are already in place, but apparently tomorrow is the correct day to put them up, Galungan Eve. As we were driving it became apparent that penjor work is men's work. Some completed poles were lying on their side, decorations being fine-tuned or waiting for the right time to go on full display; in other places groups of men still sat working on their creations. We even saw a motorbike this afternoon carrying two very green, obviously just-cut long bamboo poles - the Bali equivalent of the last-minute Christmas tree dash.

We did wonder, human nature being what it is, if there were penjor 'competitions': whose was the biggest and best in the village, much as our Christmas lights tend to become. But Balinese spirituality seems so much stronger than ours, and if some penjors are fancier than others it might be a show of wealth, but it is also a sincere tribute to the gods.

Bearing our gift of fruits and cakes, we called in at the family compound where we will be celebrating the holiday on Wednesday. Knowing how busy everyone is, we planned just a short visit, but soon realised that would be impossible. The compound has six dwellings, housing five generations, set in lovely grounds. Our immediate hosts, Dika and Ketut, insisted on stopping what they were doing, calling any children present and serving coffee, tea, pisang goreng (fried banana) and small cakes. The very oldest members of the family did not join us, but we will meet them formally on Wednesday. It struck us as such a sensible way to live: multi generational, children always with playmates and minders, yet a degree of privacy. The youngest child is not yet six months, the oldest adult well into his 80s.

Ketut showed me her room full of beautiful offerings, stacked almost to the ceiling, made by the women of the compound. Nowhere near finished, she assured me, but there was still time. Our fruit will be incorporated into one of those glorious towers that Balinese women carry on their heads to the temple. Tomorrow is cooking day for the Wednesday feast, so I am guessing that sleep will be in short supply tonight and tomorrow.

It is such a privilege to be so intimately involved with this celebration.

The gods are on their way

On Wednesday the gods and the spirits of the ancestors will descend from the mountain and so begins the biggest celebration on the Balinese calendar. You know that Galungan is near when the beautifully decorated penjors appear outside every dwelling on the island. For weeks we have noticed small trucks carrying extremely long bamboo poles, which will become these penjors, and many tiny shops have sprung up along the road selling decorations.

Shops and some restaurants will soon close - some for just a couple of days, some for the full 10 days until Kuningan heralds the end of the festivities and the gods go back to the mountain. We leave on Saturday so will miss some of the fun. Bad planning on our part, but as our visas will expire, sadly we cannot stay longer.

Rather than paraphrase the many articles that explain the significance of Galungan and Kuningan, the links will give more detail, and this recent article from the Jakarta Times explains the importance of a celebration where cost is no object, even to the poorest families.

We are honoured to have been invited into a Balinese compound on Wednesday to join the family for the afternoon. Honour is combined with anxiety. What do you wear? Bring? This particular compound houses 27 people across five generations. We have the right garments: I will wear kamben, kebaya and sash while Eddie will add a jacket and saput to his kamben and on his head wear a udeng. Diagram here and Murni explains Balinese dress in more detail here. As for bringing, we are assured that nothing is required on the day (which feels odd) but a gift of fruit on Monday that can be used for offerings would be appreciated. It can't just be any fruit though, we need to look for beautiful apples and oranges and grapes would be a bonus. So that is tomorrow's task.

Those who have been granted the full holiday are heading back to their families to help with preparations, but even those who are working will try and return for even a short time on the day. An indication of the importance of the family temple is one young man we know who works in Ubud, but whose family is more than four hours away by motorbike on the west coast. On two consecutive days last week he finished work at around 5pm, rode the four hours home, spent an hour at the temple, then rode back to Ubud ready to work again. Something very important was happening that he could not miss so there is no doubt that he will be home for Galungan. This is also the holiday when workers can expect an extra half month's wages to help with the heavy costs of the celebrations.

Galungan and Kuningan was last celebrated in March, according to the 210-day calendar, so it will next occur in May 2014. We plan to be here for the full 10 days. It feels incomplete to be leaving this time before the gods have ascended the mountain again.

Selamat Hari Raya Galungan dan Kuningan.

Holidays

Three months ago there was no way I'd have been able to text in Bahasa Indonesia to try and set up a hair appointment, let alone understand the reply: Tutup ibu untuk idul fitri 1 minggu nanti hari selasa 13 agustus. I'd let the hair get out of control, just a little bit, but Nelly could surely fit me in?. Well, actually, no. And that's a no until next Tuesday because she has shut up shop for a week to mark the holiday of Idul Fitri, also called Lebaran. Ah well, my fault for not being more organised, and Tuesday it will have to be.

But the upside is that those language lessons are starting to pay off, and it does offer the perfect excuse to talk about holidays on the island.

The fact that Nelly is closed for a week probably indicates that she has gone to Java, like so many, to mark the end of Ramadhan. For the Hindu Balinese, today and tomorrow are holidays, as they are in the rest of the country, but business is probably pretty much as usual.

Bali operates on two calendar systems: for practical purposes, the Gregorian one that most of us use and the unique Balinese calendar. Just to complicate things even more, there's a lunar calendar thrown into the mix too.

One year in the Pakwukon system consists of 420 days, or two 'otons'. Each oton of 210 days has 30 weeks. You will soon realise that marking the passing of 210 days carries considerable significance. According to Ubud identity and matriach Murni, 210 days is the cycle of the rice plant from germination to flowering. Balinese people also celebrate two birthdays: the date they were born on the Western calendar and the day that marks the 210-day cycle. For the two days to coincide is rare and highly auspicious. And on the 210th day, a baby's feet are allowed to touch the ground for the first time.

But that's just the surface. Underneath is an incredibly complex system that would never be understood by outsiders without years of study. Temple ceremonies and holidays are calculated, dates are advised and people plan accordingly.

Probably the most important holidays on the island are Galungan and Kuningan, celebrated for 10 days, every 210 days. That's when you see the beautifully decorated penjors

outside every dwelling on the island. We will still be here for Galungan Day on October 24, but sadly will have left by the last day, Kuningan Day on November 4. Offices, shops and restaurants are often closed for a week during this period as there is so much temple business to attend to.

We have only been in Bali once during Nyepi, but it is our favourite Bali holiday. The Balinese New Year is a moveable feast, but will always occur during March or April. Weeks before the day you will see every village constructing huge ogoh-ogoh, or ferocious monsters.

Terrifying, ugly, very, very big and these days, sometimes with a contemporary twist. There's a Bob Marley one still at an intersection we pass frequently. In late afternoon on Nyepi Eve, these monsters are paraded to much merriment and a great deal of noise. Fireworks, explosives... anything goes, as long as they are noisy. They are scaring the evil gods away. But at 6am, all must be quiet. No one is allowed on the streets (except for emergencies) and the pecalang will shoo you back into your accommodation if you venture out. The airport is closed and there is not a sound, except the roosters and dogs, and even they seem quieter.

The idea is that those evil gods who were scared away last night might come back. They hover over Bali, look down and go, nah, nobody there so we'll leave them alone for another year. The Day of Silence concludes at 6am the next day and Bali resumes its normal, bustling activity. As you are not supposed to do anything but reflect on the year gone and the year ahead - not cook or use any electrical equipment - it also serves as a sort of Earth Day. One day in the year when there is no craziness. Seems like a good idea to me, and it's a wonderful time to be here and experience Balinese culture. YouTube has a selection of videos about Ogoh-ogoh here.

Of course there are many other holidays and reasons for temple ceremonies, but it would take forever to explain, even if I could.