Bali: Island of the Gods

With more than 20,000 temples, temple ceremonies are daily happenings in Bali. The Balinese believe their island belongs to the gods and that the mortals are custodians of the gods’ well being. To propitiate the gods, the Balinese bring offerings to their family shrines, village and city temples and in between there are all other kinds of ceremonies.

When we were staying in Amed (map), in east Bali, our villa was next to a sacred beach. This meant that almost every day a procession of devotees arrived to bring offerings. It did not take long before we were invited to join in. We donned sarongs and watched the ceremony.

A woman in a conical hat raked the peanuts spread out on blue plastic sheets so that the nuts would dry evenly. When she saw me she picked up a few, shelled them and invited me to taste them. She pointed at my camera and herself. I snapped a photo and captured her broad smile. She lived in a hut on the beach and did not take part in the ceremony, she just watched.

When the wheels of a pick-up truck crunched across the pebbly part of the beach she rolled up her peanuts in big bales and sat on one. Men jumped out of the trucks and busied themselves in erecting a bamboo structure, a kind of basket on high poles.

The men offloaded a roasted suckling pig on a spit, the offering the gods like best, and leant it against the basket.

Another truck arrived. Gamelan musicians dressed in magenta ceremonial uniforms unloaded their instruments and seated themselves cross-legged behind gongs, metallophones drums and cymbals.

Women clad in festal garb: a lacy, close-fitting long-sleeved blouse, tightly wound sarong and a sash around their waist brought offerings to the beach. They each carried on their head a huge cone built up of fruits and flowers, steadying the structure with one hand. Others brought bright tasseled parasols in bright yellow and white a symbol of dedication to the Hindu religion.

Young girls paraded up and down. Little boys tripped over their sarongs when frisking about.

All devotees sat down and waited for the priest to arrive. The moment the devotees had gone, the peanut lady rolled out the blue bale.  While we stayedin Amed, there was a ceremony most afternoons. Each time the peanut lady had to remove her nuts.

After the men arranged the offerings, a white-robed priest chanted a prayer. Then he walked about sprinkling holy water over the crowd.

After the offerings were blessed, some were loaded onto an outrigger boat and the priest scattered them across the waves to propitiate the sea gods.
The ceremony over, the devotees went home taking the blessed and consecrated pig and other valuable offerings with them. The spiritual essence had been given to the gods and the mortals were left with just food that should not go to waste.

The last rays of the sun made the sea flicker with a hundred lights. The sea gods were at peace.

photo credits: personal collection Marianne Crone