Bali - Galungan

Our last full day in Bali was also the day of the Galungan holiday. It marks the victory of good (Dharma) over evil (Adharma), and is a time the spirits of the ancestors are believed to visit the earth. (Funny that it happens about the same time as Halloween and the Mexican Day of the Dead). Balinese Hindus welcome and entertain these returning spirits through rituals, prayers, and offerings. For the last couple of days we’ve seen the “penjor” being assembled and erected all over town. These are tall, highly decorated bamboo poles with offerings suspended at the end. There are small altars set up nearby as well. On the morning of the actual day there were scores of women in colorful traditional dress carrying baskets of offerings on their head; sometimes walking, sometimes riding sidesaddle on the backs of motorscooters driven by men in traditional white. They were all making their way to their local temples. Many businesses were closed for at least part of the day. Everyone was in a festive and happy mood, including us.





(photo by Deborah)


Baskets of offerings placed inside the temple



Penjors








This beautiful work is woven palm fronds.





(photo by Deborah)


Placing the offerings



Even the cars get offerings



Exiting a temple



(photo by Deborah)



Kids dressed for the occassion
(photo by Deborah)



Blessings at one of the small altars


Preparing the panjor the day before Galungan


Family of four on a motorscooter? No problem.



Procession of devotees bearing offerings in Ubud
(video by Deborah)


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Caribbean Cruise

Image
Even before embarking on our Panama Canal cruise, Deborah and I looked ahead to its conclusion and expressed our reluctance to hurry back to the dreary winter weather of Olympia.  To remedy this we rather decadently booked another cruise that was to leave from Fort Lauderdale just two days after our Panama Canal cruise was to end. We spent the two days in Fort Lauderdale between cruises doing laundry, visiting friends, and catching up on computer tasks thanks to our Airbnb’s Wi-Fi.  Our second voyage was a 7 night Caribbean cruise with stops in Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos; Amber Cove, Dominican Republic; and Key West, Florida; before returning to Fort Lauderdale. Both of our cruises were on Holland America Line (also same as for our Alaska cruise last year), which has a reputation for a somewhat older clientele. The Caribbean cruisers were a bit younger than the Panama Canal ones, but actually seemed in worse shape. Not sure I’ve ever seen that ma...
Read more

Next Stop: Everywhere

Image
It’s been nearly nine years since we started travelling for long periods – up to six months at a time – not just to escape the gloomy winters of Western Washington, but to see what it felt like to really live in, not just visit, another place. Australia was the first, then Fiji, Europe, Mexico, Japan and Hawaii. We did a lot of house sitting and work exchange to moderate the cost and expand the experience.  These trips only deepened our love of travel and whetted our appetites for experiencing new places. But the trip to Hawaii ended with us a purchasing a lot on the Big Island and then returning the following winter to build a house. Designing it ourselves, acting as our own contractor and doing much of the work ourselves, that project stretched to nearly two years. We loved our house and our small community in North Kohala, and made many good friends there. But we always knew our Hawaii stay would not be long term – partly because it is expensive, partly because of the inevita...
Read more

Townsville - Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary

Image
The Billabong Wildlife Sanctuary lies just south of Townsville and is home to an assortment of rescued and captive-born native Australian wildlife including crocodiles, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, cassowaries, and many others. There are also a number of wild birds attracted to the billabong (pond) around which the sanctuary is situated. We spent the whole day there and had a great time. There were many interesting interactive presentations and wildlife feeding times throughout the day. Because the animals here are generally not candidates for reintroduction to the wild, they are allowed to become quite tame and used to human interaction. So if you want to hold a koala or hand feed a kangaroo you can do that. The crocodiles, however, might best be left alone. Koala.  Interesting fact: A mother koala will smear her feces over the face and body of her joey (baby) - not as some sort of sadistic punishment or Joan Crawford impersonation, but so that the offspring will lick itse...
Read more