"Colorful, Communal"

From June 26-28 this month, along the rural pathways and roads of Bali you will see the celebrative ambience of Galungan and Kuningan, two of major holidays for the Balinese Hindu.

The beautiful and artistic bamboo poles erected along Bali’s roadsides signifies Galungan, while the celebrants dress up in their unique-only-to-bali attire and the traditional festive music resonates throughout the villages. Temples are thronged by the masses and the people feast merrily on food and cakes in between worship and blessing ceremonies, and such grand productions do take a great deal of preparation and coordination.

Legend has it that the Balinese commemorate Galungan as the legendary victory of God Indra in a long and furious battle against the self-proclaimed God-King Mayadewa. Powerful Mayadewa was thought invincible and considered the strongest God in the Universe, claiming there was no god but him. Commoners were made to worship him instead of God or receive dreadful punishments.

Angry, the people revolted but were massacred by the king. An army contingent from Java’s Majapahit Kingdom was also easily defeated. Then Indra descended from heaven to help the poor, battling Mayadenawa in a test of power.

The battle raged at Tampaksiring, the Gianyar home of today’s presidential palace and the sacred Tirta Empul Temple. After a long and tiring fight, Mayadenawa turned himself into a pig to fool the army, but this did not fool Indra. Knowing that there was no way to hide, Mayadenawa ran through a dense forest on the sides of his feet, hoping Indra and his army would not recognize his footprints. This area is known today as Tampak Siring, meaning “the sideways footprints”.

Indra was too smart to be fooled by this however, and his magic arrow eventually ended the rebelling king’s existence. The defeat of Mayadenawa has since been celebrated as Galungan, a day of victory, dharma over adharma, good over evil, and the Balinese erect bamboo poles to commemorate the victory, symbolizing that good stands upright against evil.

The festive Kuningan Day on July 7 finds thousands Of Hindu worshipers from various corners of Bali visiting the Sakenan Temple on Pulau Serangan, a tiny island south of Denpasar. The Sakenan Temple, along with Besakih Temple, is among the first, few, and most important temples built by the respected Javanese priest Mpu Kuturan before the turn of the second millennium. The priest Danghyang Nirartha built other beachside temples, including the famous and picturesque Tanah Lot, Uluwatu, and Rambutsiwi at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

Sakenan also has the special privilege of housing Dewi Sri, the goddess of rice, the symbol of wealth and prosperity, it also happens that the temple anniversary falls on Kuningan (yellow) Day, the color symbolizing gold (prosperity) and the god Wisnu, preserver of the universe. Worshippers arrive at the temple and pray at the shrine of Dewi Sri for the prosperity of their rice, or more accurately, their business.

Kuningan is celebrated every 210 days, a cycle known as “one otonan year”, Uniquely, Serangan is also home to one of Bali’s oldest Islamic mosques, established by the Bugis fleeing capture in Sulawesi by the Duth colonial army. There is both a Muslim cemetery and a Hindu cremation ground on the island, and the bi-cultural Serangan seems problem free. In fact, the skilled Bugis traders are the “suppliers” of the green turtles needed by the Balinese on festive days. The Bugis community does not eat turtle, since islam prohibits its followers from eating animals living in two worlds, water and land.

Closing the 210-day cycle and culminating with Galungan on June 27, it is also a time for the Balinese Banjar neighborhood associations to conduct their “annual” meetings. As with every other religious celebrative day, Galungan in so important in the Balinese lifecycle that everyone is supposed to return to his or her home village.