Rituals of Life
In Balinese culture, samsara represents the continuous cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. People believe that each human soul transitions from one life to another, guided by their past actions (karma). The choices made in previous or current lives shape their destiny. Samsara extends beyond humans to all living beings, including plants and animals. The ultimate goal is moksha, spiritual liberation from the cycle of samsara. Achieving moksha involves self-awareness, meditation, and detachment from worldly desires.
Balinese people prepare offerings (canang) for gods, goddesses, and malevolent spirits during various occasions. Major ceremonies include Nyepi (Day of Silence), Melasti, Galungan, Kuningan, Saraswati, and Pegarwesi.
Life cycle rituals symbolise transitions, such as hair cutting, bathing, and tooth filing. Balinese consult with priests (pedanda) to choose auspicious dates for ceremonies, considering religious and cultural aspects. Their unique calendar systems (Saka and Pawukon) play a significant role.
Elements of Balinese rituals include Tirta Suci (holy water), banten (offerings), and dupa (incense) purify the environment and bring happiness. Balinese celebrate every life stage, blending Hindu beliefs with local traditions.
Balinese culture embraces samsara as a journey of rebirth, marked by rituals and spiritual practices. It reflects the intricate interplay of religion, tradition, and time.
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Kuningan is a significant Balinese holy day that marks the end of the Galungan celebration. Galungan celebrates the victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil). In Bali Hindu belief, Kuningan holy day is when their ancestors return to heaven after visiting Earth during the Galungan celebration. Offerings are made to honour and bid farewell to the ancestors on this day. Kuningan holy congregation is held at the ancient Sakenan Temple, Serangan.
The worshipping hands holding a frangipani during Bali Hindu Kuningan holy ceremony.
Kuningan is a significant Balinese holy day that marks the end of the Galungan celebration. Galungan celebrates the victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil). In Bali Hindu belief, Kuningan holy day is when their ancestors return to heaven after visiting Earth during the Galungan celebration. Offerings are made to honour and bid farewell to the ancestors on this day. Kuningan holy congregation is held at the ancient Sakenan Temple, Serangan.
Kuningan is a significant Balinese holy day that marks the end of the Galungan celebration. Galungan celebrates the victory of dharma (good) over adharma (evil). In Bali Hindu belief, Kuningan holy day is when their ancestors return to heaven after visiting Earth during the Galungan celebration. Offerings are made to honour and bid farewell to the ancestors on this day. Kuningan holy congregation is held at the ancient Sakenan Temple, Serangan.
Melasti is a significant Bali Hindu purification ritual that takes place a few days before the Sacred Nyepi, also known as the “Day of Silence". Melasti honours the cleansing of life on Earth.
Pedanda is a Hindu Bali holy priest figure who presides over religious rituals. Featured here is a Pedanda during a Melasti purification ritual in the village of Serangan, Denpasar Regency.
Worshippers at a temple during the Bali Hindu Melasti Purification Day.
Beautiful handcrafted gebogan (head-carried stacked offerings) come in different shapes and forms during the Bali Hindu Melasti ritual day.
Worshippers bear sacred items of their temple heritage treasures for Melasti purification ritual. Sacred treasures of holy places in Bali Hindu are referred to as Pralingga or Pratima Ida Bhatara.
A Melasti Purification Day procession at a coastal village with Balinese fisherman's jukung wooden boats in the background.
A Melasti Purification Day procession at a coastal village with Balinese fisherman's jukung wooden boats in the background.
A Melasti Purification Day procession passing through a village market.
A procession of head-born offerings on Melasti Purification Day, days ahead of the sacred Nyepi (Day of Silence).
A folk dance performed during purification ceremony by sea water on Bali Hindu Melasti ritual day.
Banten Pepare Usaba Kasa is a special form of Bali Hindu offerings found among the indigenous Bali Aga community of Tenganan Pegringsingan during the Bali Calendar's holy week in late January or early February.
Banten Pepare Usaba Kasa is a special form of Bali Hindu offerings found among the indigenous Bali Aga community of Tenganan Pegringsingan during the Bali Calendar's holy week in late January or early February.
A Pedanda (Bali Hindu priest) presiding a ritual in the village of Tenganan Pegringsingan, the home of the Balinese indigenous Bali Aga community.
An indigenous Bali Aga woman practices Sanggah Gedebong, a rite of gratitude to the guiding spirits in the village of Tenganan Pegringsingan.
Gebogan, also known as Pajegan, is the Bali Hindu type of highly decorative tiered/stacked offering designed to be carried on the head.
Gebogan, also known as Pajegan, is the Bali Hindu type of highly decorative tiered/stacked offering designed to be carried on the head.
The Bali Hindu type of offering, usually consisting of edibles, flowers, or incenses, presented in large baskets or bowls.
Banten Pregembal is the Bali Hindu creatively shaped cooked rice offerings.
Banten Pregembal is the Bali Hindu creatively shaped cooked rice offerings.
Nasi Lima Warna (Rice In Five Colours) are "banten" (Bali Hindu religious offerings) that can be presented in various creative expressions to honour the harmonious connection between humankind and Nature.
Nasi Lima Warna (Rice In Five Colours) are "banten" (Bali Hindu religious offerings) that can be presented in various creative expressions to honour the harmonious connection between humankind and Nature.
Sacred Balinese traditional masks of Barong and Rangda, worn in the ritual dance of Ratu Ayu, depicting the the Good and the Evil.
Lavish cremation rituals are held for Balinese nobility and prominent public figures in Bali. Glorious artistic platforms and tiered roofs constructions are built on bamboo grid bases, carried on the shoulders of dozens of men in a spectacular procession that takes the deceased body from the local temple to the dedicated cremation grounds.
In the Bali Hindu tradition of the cremation (Ngaben) of nobilities, the deceased body is laid down inside a giant handsomely decorated bull made of flammable natural materials and transported on the shoulders of dozens of men to the cremation grounds.
The deceased finally descends to Nirvana as his body, laid inside the giant bull figure, is cremated.
Along with the cremation of the nobility deceased body, elegantly built structures of worldliness are also surrendered to raging fire, a symbolic gesture to open the doors to Nirvana (Heaven).
Ashes of a cremated deceased person is released to the open seas as a final ritual of Ngaben (Bali Hindu cremation process).
Offerings that accompany the release of ashes of a cremated deceased person to the open seas as a final ritual of Ngaben (Bali Hindu cremation process).
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