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BALI
CULTURE & BALI CUSTOM
 Each
stage of Balinese life is marked by a series of ceremonies
and rituals known as Manusa Yadnya. They contribute to the
rich, varied and active life the average Balinese leads.
Birth
The first ceremony of Balinese life takes place even before
birth. Another ceremony takes place soon after the birth,
during which the afterbirth is buried with appropriate offerings.
The first major ceremony takes place halfway through the baby's
first Balinese year of 210 days.
 Names
Basically the Balinese only have four first names. The first
child is Wayan or Putu, the second child is Made or Kadek,
the third is Nyoman or Komang and the fourth is Ketut. The
fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will be another Wayan,
Made, Nyoman, Ketut and Wayan again.
Childhood
The Balinese certainly love children and they have plenty
of them to prove it. Coping with a large family is made much
easier by the policy of putting younger children in the care
of older ones. After the ceremonies of babyhood come ceremonies
marking the stages of childhood and puberty, including the
important tooth-filing ceremony.
Marriage
Every Balinese expects to marry and raise a family, and
marriage takes places at a comparatively young age. Marriages
are not, in general, arranged as they are in many other Asian
communities although strict rules apply to marriages between
the castes. There are two basic forms of marriage in Bali
- mapadik and ngorod. The respectable form, in which the family
of the man visit the family of the woman and politely propose
that the marriage take place, is mapadik. The Balinese, however,
like their fun and often prefer marriage by elopement (ngorod)
as the most exciting option. Of course, the Balinese are also
a practical people so nobody is too surprised when the young
man spirits away his bride-to-be, even if she loudly protests
about being kidnapped. 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,
announce that it is too late to stop them now, the marriage
is officially recognized and everybody has had a lot of fun
and games. Marriage by elopement has another advantage apart
from being exciting and mildly heroic-it's cheaper.
The Household
Many modern Balinese houses, but there are still a great
number of traditional Balinese homes. The street of Ubud;
nearly every house will follow the same traditional walled
design.
Men
& Women
There are certain tasks clearly to be handled by women,
and others reserved for men. Social life in Bali is relatively
free and easy. In Balinese leisure activities the roles are
also sex differentiated. Both men and women dance but only
men play the gamelan. Today you do see some women painters,
sculptors, and woodcarvers.
Community
Life
Balinese have an amazingly active and organized village
life. You simply cannot be a faceless nonentity in Bali. You
can't help but get to know your neighbors as your life is
so entwined and interrelated with theirs.
Death
& Cremation
There are ceremonies for every stage of Balinese life
but often the last ceremony-cremation-is the biggest. A Balinese
cremation can be an amazing, spectacular, colorful, noisy
and exciting event. In fact it often takes so long to organize
a cremation that years have passed since the death. During
that time the body is temporarily buried. Of course an auspicious
day must be chosen for the cremation and since a big cremation
can be very expensive business many less wealthy people may
take the opportunity of joining in at a larger cremation and
sending their own dead on their way at the same time. Brahmans,
however, must be cremated immediately. Apart from being yet
another occasion for Balinese noise and confusion it's a fine
opportunity to observe the incredible energy the Balinese
put into creating real works of art which are totally ephemeral.
A lot more than a body gets burnt at the cremation. The body
is carried from the burial ground (or from the deceased's
home if it's and 'immediate' cremation) to the cremation ground
in a high, multi-tiered tower made of bamboo, paper, string,
tinsel, silk, cloth, mirrors, flowers and anything else bright
and colorful you can think of. The tower is carried on the
shoulders of a group of men, the size of the group depending
on the importance of the deceased and hence the size of the
tower. The funeral of a former rajah of high priest may require
hundreds of men to tote the tower.
A long the way to the cremation ground certain
precautions must be taken to ensure that the deceased's spirit
does not find its way back home. Loose spirits around the
house can be a real nuisance. To ensure this doesn't happen
requires getting the spirits confused as to their whereabouts,
which you do by shaking the tower, running it around in circles,
spinning it around, throwing water at it, generally making
the trip to the cremation ground anything but a stately funeral
crawl. Meanwhile, there's likely to be a priest halfway up
to tower, hanging on grimly as it sways back and forth, and
doing his best to soak bystanders with holy water. A gamelan
sprints along behind, providing a suitably exciting musical
accompaniment. Camera-toting tourists get all but run down
and once again the Balinese prove that ceremonies and religion
are there to be enjoyed. At the cremation ground the body
is transferred to a funeral sarcophagus-this should be in
the shape of a bull for a Brahmana, a winged lion for a Satria
and a sort of elephant-fish for a Sudra. These days, however,
almost anybody from the higher castes will use a bull. Finally
up it all goes in flames-funeral tower, sarcophagus, body,
the lot. The eldest son does his duty by poking through the
ashes to ensures that there are bits of body left unburned.
And where does your soul go after your cremation? Why, to
a heaven which is just like Bali!
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