Klub Kokos

News - Ceremonies in Bangkiang Sidem and Ubud

December 2000 Newsletter

Gallery Progress
Ceremonies in Ubud
& Bangkiang Sidem
School News
Staff/Guest News
Featured Recipe
(Rendang - Javanese
Spicy Beef)

Above: Ketut Mariana
& Ketut Partha on their
wedding day.

Anyone who has spent time in Bali will know that the Hindu Bali religion here is so much a part of everyday life for the Balinese. With thousands of temples scattered around the island, there always seems to be a ceremony going on somewhere when you are here. However, these past few months for us have been unusually overloaded with ceremonies.

A ceremony that we were all very excited to attend in July was that of Ketut Partha's wedding. Having already reached his 30s, we thought that Ketut was never going to find his true love, as he's always so busy taking special care driving around many of our guests, as well as others. However, we were delighted to hear earlier in the year that all the trips that he had made to KLUB KOKOS in the past had a side benefit - his falling in love with one of our cooks, also called Ketut! So five months ago they finally tied the knot, and now Ketut Mariani is suffering all the symptoms of early pregnancy. More news of that family again next year, but if you would like to see a collection of photos of their wedding, one of the guests that was staying with us at that time, Michael Newman, has put the collection of photos that he took on the day on his web site:
(http://homepage.mac.com/mgnewman/
Bali2000/ wedding/wedding.html)

Above: Pak Kawi and family

October was another busy month for ceremonies locally at Bangkiang Sidem. For over three months our neighbour and carpenter, Pak Kawi, had been busily working at home to prepare for a large Melaspas ceremony at his home. This is a special ceremony held when the family temple in the house compound is rebuilt, requiring a great amount of the extended family's time to prepare, as well as help from the rest of the village as the time drew near to the ceremony. Pak Kawi and his family are very proud to be able to rebuild a fine temple as a place of rest for their ancestors as well as God, and now Pak Kawi's father feels that he can spend his old age at peace, having fulfilled his obligations to the best of his ability.

Above: Sari and her cousin Dea in their fine regalia after the tooth filing ceremony. This costume is very similar to that worn by a bride at a wedding ceremony.

Above: A small part of the cremation ceremony for Krishna's step-grandmother.

Once November arrived the ceremonies that filled our lives were a direct part of Krishna's extended family in Ubud. Being of a high caste from the central Puri (Palace) of Ubud, any ceremonies held here are indeed on a fine scale. Earlier in November the finishing touches were made to preparations for a week-long Maligia ceremony. This was a purification ceremony for the souls of 64 of Krishna's extended family that had died over the past 30 years or so. Those directly related to Krishna included his grandfather, who died in 1973, and his oldest sister, who died in 1968. This ceremony, that elevates the souls to a deified state, is only held every 20 years, and a tooth filing ceremony for 30 of the family, including our daughter Sari, was also held in conjunction with the Maligia. Later in the New Year a page about the Maligia ceremony will be added to our web site for your interest.

Just as the family was recovering from the energy expended carrying out the Maligia ceremony, news came to us that Krishna's step-grandmother had died. As a cremation for the Balinese is the most important of all life-cycle ceremonies, immediately we all gathered together at the Puri for the massive involvement required to prepare for her cremation, set at 10 days after her death. After much preparation involving the four banjar (local councils) of Ubud as well as the banjar of Taman, around 600 families of the Ubud area, the climax of all the work was realized in the cremation ceremony, held on December 6th. Once life settles down to 'normal' in the New Year, a page about this ceremony will also be added to our web site. Although many visitors to Bali have been able to witness the spectacular event of a cremation, not so many are aware of the chain of ceremonies that precede this day, or of the ceremonies that then follow the cremation. Having documented the whole event from the grandmother's death to her cremation and beyond, this page may help visitors to Bali to further understand the complexity of how death is treated by the Balinese.

Krishna's grandmother's death actually occurred on the day when we had originally planned the Grand Opening of KLUB KOKOS. So it was most fortunate that we had already postponed this event, due to the Maligia ceremony, as a death in the family is an immediate signal that no other ceremonies may be held until 3 days after the cremation, as the family, as well as the whole of the Ubud village, becomes sebel (unclean).

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This page was last updated on December 15, 2000