Klub Kokos
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News
- Ceremonies
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December 2001 Newsletter
Road Improvements
Ceremonies
School News
Staff/Guest News
Featured Recipe
(Gulai Ayam - Spicy Madurese Chicken)
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There is never a dull moment in Bali! Sometimes I wonder when life will
get 'back to normal' after a spate of ceremonies throwing everything else
into chaos, but then I realise "What IS normal here?" The fact
that the lives of the Hindu-Bali population around us are so tied in with
religion and spiritual awareness means that the concept of time just does
not have any real priority in people's minds here. What is more important
is keeping things in balance and in harmony. And so the cycle of regular
temple anniversary ceremonies (odalan),
the life cycle ritual ceremonies and family ceremonies continue around
us. Here are just a few of those we have attended over the past six months:
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Barong procession from one temple to
another passes KLUB KOKOS
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- Every month or so we are sure to have a procession of hundreds, sometimes
thousands, of people swarming past KLUB KOKOS,
accompanying their sacred barong from one temple to another.
This occurs when one of the temples of our village of Bangkiang Sidem
or Sebali, or their interrelated temples in the Ubud area have an Odalan.
As a way of sharing blessings and religious coherence with neighbouring
villages, the barong from other villages are escorted with great
splendour, and accompanied by the village gamelan orchestra to
the celebrating temple, where it will stay at least overnight before
being taken back to it's own home temple. This tends to form the social
nucleus of Balinese life, and is an event not to be missed if you get
the opportunity to join in on a procession while you are holidaying
in Bali.
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Mecaru Ceremony at
the partially constructed home
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- The spiritual harmony of life's interaction with nature is an important
aspect of everyday living for the Balinese. Thus a mecaru (cleansing
ceremony) is also very important, and frequently seen on a variety of
scales within the family home. One mecaru that we attended recently
was diagonally opposite KLUB KOKOS,
where a close friend of ours - Gung Dek (from Jero Kawan in Ubud) -
and his partner Tara are building a 'get-away-from-it-all' home. Due
to a series of disruptive occurrences during the building process, it
was decided that a mecaru should be held again with a pedanda
(high priest) in attendance, to realign the balance of the land, once
used for growing rice, but now to be built upon.
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Ngulapin for a smaller tugu in the house
compound
Odalan in the newly finished family temple
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- In the last newsletter I mentioned that the family temple at the home
of our head builder and masseur extraordinaire, Gusti Aji, and his wife,
Gusti Biang, had been completed and blessed with a ngulapin ceremony.
Their home being directly opposite KLUB KOKOS
means that we join in with any of the ceremonies that they have as 'one
of the family'. To complete the family compound centres for offerings,
a small tugu (shrine) was also blessed with a ngulapin
ceremony some months ago, that was a good illustration of the determination
of the Balinese to carry out their religious obligations - rain or shine!
Then a month later a colourful odalan was held to celebrate the
anniversary of the temple, where Gusti Aji could proudly gather with
his family to pray, having now completed a fine 'home' for the gods
and his ancestors' spirits within his compound.
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Ketut Partha & his wife Ketut Mariani
celebrate the 3-month ceremony for their baby daughter |
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- One of the more special ceremonies that we were able to attend recently
was that of the nelubulanin (3-month ceremony) for the daughter
of one of our favourite drivers for guests at KLUB KOKOS,
Ketut Partha, and his wife Ketut Mariani, who worked as a cook at KLUB KOKOS
until the birth of her baby. A special page about this ceremony has
been included in our Bali Travel Guidebook section called "Baby's
3-month Ceremony".
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