Bali, Indonesia

We are spending about a week traveling through Indonesia, a chain of 17,508 islands, 16,000 of which are uninhabited.  The population of Indonesia (285 million) is 87% Islamic and only 1.7% Hindu.  But the Indonesian island of Bali is 87% Hindu, and our excursions on that island increased our understanding of the Balinese Hindu faith.

Life on Bali centers around its many small villages.  Most people spend their entire lives in the village where they were born, with married women typically moving to their husband’s village.  Each village is known for its specific vocational skill which is passed down from generation to generation.  As we drove through various villages, we found the streets lined with shops specializing in local products.  Specialties included batik fabric, silver jewelry, wood carvings, or roof-thatching.  Each village also has two important buildings: one a temple for worship and another for community gatherings.

The impression we got of those who practice the Hindu faith in Bali is that their daily lives revolve around spiritual practices.  We spent a day with a private driver and learned that he starts each work day by placing an offering on the dashboard of his car to ask for safety.  Everywhere we went, we saw offerings, some as simple as a square of palm leaf topped with a flower or a few grains of rice and meat, that people had left as symbols of their devotion.  We also saw women carrying much larger offerings: towers of fruits and flowers that they balanced on their heads and took to the village temple for a special celebration.

Dance is another expression of Balinese Hinduism.  Many dances are only done as part of sacred rituals and not performed for tourists.  One evening, however, we went to a dinner that was followed by the Kecak Dance, which was mesmerizing!  It started with dozens of men wearing black and white sarongs, seated in a circle on the floor and chanting in unison.  Elaborately dressed dancers entered the circle and interpreted the story of Ramayana, basically the struggle between good and evil.  I took a short video, but it may be too large to load here.  It would be worth Googling, however, just for you to hear the chanting and get a feel for the intensity of this ritual.

Our final stop on Bali was a visit to Pura Taman Ayun Temple, or the king’s water temple, in Mengwi.  Built in 1634, this UNESCO  World Heritage Site’s name means “beautiful garden,” as it is surrounded by lotus ponds whose pink flowers add to the  beauty of the setting.