History - Bali and Lombok - page 6

LIFEST YLE
For the average rural Balinese, the working day is not long. Their expertise
at coaxing bountiful harvests from the fertile volcanic soil leaves them lots
of quality time to chat or to prepare elaborate cultural events. In the towns,
the working day is longer, but although routine observances may be less
elaborate, they are undertaken with no less devotion.
In villages life is concentrated under the tropical vegetation of palm,
breadfruit, mango, papaya, and banana trees. The centre of a village has an
open meeting space, temples, the town market, perhaps a former prince's
home, the kulkul (hollow tree-trunk drum used to sound a warning or call
meetings) tower and quite likely a big banyan tree. The banjar (local division
of a village consisting of all the married adult males) continues the strong
community spirit by organising village festivals, marriage ceremonies,
cremations and the local gamelan (traditional Balinese orchestra). The
headquarters is the open-sided bale banjar (communal meeting place of
a banjar ) where you might see a gamelan practice, a meeting, food being
prepared for a feast, or men preening their roosters for the next round of
cockfights.
In the more urbanized south however, life embodies many of the same
hassles of modern life anywhere. There's traffic, noise that drowns out even
the loudest barking dog and various social ills such as drugs. There is though
still a concept of village life under it all in that people are part of a greater
group beyond their immediate family. This is important as women are finding
much to do outside of the home, whether it's work or even cultural activities.
Child care becomes an adult responsibility, not just a family or maternal
one. In the end, an air-conditioned mall fills in for the village banyan tree
as a meeting place for many.
Historically, the culture on Lombok is almost as rich as Bali's, but today
it is no longer as colourful or as accessible as in Bali. Ancient traditions of
worship, including elements of Hindu and animist beliefs, have all but died
out as the vast majority of people now practise orthodox Islam. Neverthe-
less, small numbers of Wektu Telu (p316), a religion unique to Lombok,
still exist and both Lombok's Balinese and Buginese communities help add
to the diversity.

Ceremonies & Rituals
Every stage of life, from conception to cremation, is marked by a series of
ceremonies and rituals, which are the basis of the rich, varied and active
Balinese cultural life.

BIRTH & CHILDHOOD
The first ceremony of Balinese life takes place when women reach the third
month of pregnancy, with offerings to ensure the wellbeing of the baby. Soon
after the birth, the afterbirth is buried with appropriate offerings. Twelve
days later women are 'purified' through another ceremony. After 42 days,
offerings are made for the baby's future.
The much-repeated Balinese names - which are gender neutral - carry a
symbolic meaning, indicating social status and birth order. Low caste Balinese
name their first child Wayan, Putu or Gede; the second is Made, Kadek or
Nengah; the third is Nyoman or Komang; and the fourth is Ketut. The fifth,
sixth, seventh and eighth children re-use the same set. The large number of
Balinese named Anak Agung, a name denoting the child of a royal concubine,
attest to the fertility of the Balinese rajahs (princes).
A child goes through 13 celebrations, or manusa yadnya . At 105 days, the
baby is welcomed to the family and its feet are allowed to touch the ground
for the first time - ground is considered impure, so babies are held until then.
At 210 days (first Balinese year) the baby is spiritually blessed in the ancestral
temple and there's a huge feast for the family and community.
A rite of passage to adulthood is the tooth-filing ceremony, when a priest
symbolically files a teenager's (around 16 to 18 years) upper front teeth to
produce a pleasing line. Crooked fangs are, after all, one of the chief distin-
guishing marks of evil spirits - just have a look at a Rangda mask! No-one
may marry unless their teeth have been filed.

Island of Bali, by Miguel
Covarrubias, written
in the 1930s, is still a
fantastic introduction to
the romance and
seduction of the island
and its culture.

Balinese education begins
with six years of primary
school, which most
children attend - you'll
see them walking
along the roads in their
uniforms.

Bali has three university
campuses: in Singaraja,
Denpasar and on the
Bukit Peninsula.

The Balinese tooth-filing
ceremony closes with
the recipient being
given a delicious jamu
(herbal tonic), made from
freshly pressed turmeric,
betel-leaf juice, lime juice
and honey.

MARRIAGE
Every Balinese is expected to marry at a relatively young age. In rural areas
this can be the late teens, and in the urban south it's after formal schooling
is completed or a solid job secured. In general, marriages are not arranged,
although there are strict rules that apply between the castes.
The respectable way to marry, known as mapadik, is when the family of
the man visits the family of the woman and politely proposes. The Balinese,
however, like their fun and often prefer marriage by ngorod (elopement).
Nobody is too surprised when the young man spirits away his bride-to-be.
The couple go into hiding and somehow the girl's parents, no matter how
assiduously they search, never manage to find her.
Eventually the couple re-emerge, the marriage is officially recognised and
everybody has had a lot of fun and games. Elopement has another advantage:
apart from being exciting and mildly heroic, it's cheaper.

DON'T HANG THOSE UNDIES! Janet de Neefe
You might have noticed that the Balinese often dry their clothes on the grass in the fields or on
low clothes racks. In Bali, clothing is considered unclean and should never occupy high sacred
spaces. Even in my cupboard, my temple clothes occupy the top shelves with underwear strictly
reserved for the lowest area.
When my husband Ketut, who is Balinese, saw our Hills Hoists and clothes lines in the suburbs
of Melbourne, he was deeply offended. He ended up drying all his clothes, in the middle of winter,
on a low bench in the backyard. Recently, he invited a priest to scan our Balinese compound for
any negative energies that compounds tend to accumulate. When all was ready, Ketut did a final
check of the property before the redeemed priest was about to arrive. Suddenly, he ran to me in
a panic saying, ' you must go and tell the tourist to take all his washing down!' I ran to the front
of our compound and was greeted with a riot of wet laundry in all shapes and sizes, flapping
happily in the breeze. Our guest had decided to wash everything he owned. His sand shoes and
wet underwear, shirts and other articles were stuck on branches, hung from lamps and stretched
between the pillars out the front of his room. I quickly had to ask him if he could remove the

DEATH & CREMATION
The last ceremony, pitra yadna (cremation), is often the biggest, most spec-
tacular, noisy and exciting event. Because of the burdensome cost of even a
modest cremation ceremony, the deceased are buried, sometimes for years,
and disinterred for a mass cremation with the cost shared among families.
Brahmanas (high priests), however, must be cremated immediately.
The body is carried in a tall, incredibly artistic multitiered tower made of
bamboo, paper, tinsel, silk, cloth, mirrors, flowers and anything else colour-