Balinese Life
March, Festive Season in Bali

March is the festive season for Hindu’s in Bali. Why? It is because there are three holidays in succession, namely Galungan, Nyepi and Kuningan. It happens rarely as the three holidays are determined based on a different calendar system. Galungan and Kuningan accord to Pawukon year (210 days) while Nyepi based on lunar year. They respectively fall on 9, 11 and 19 March 2005. For this purpose, Hindu devotees are busy preparing everything for the celebration. Galungan and Kuningan are local holidays while Nyepi has become a national Holiday.

Household mothers face something like a classical ‘market phenomenon’ on these holidays mostly for offering ingredients like young coconut leafs, fruit, flowers and the like increase in this season. It seems that the traders also take advantage of the moment to get more benefits as the demand will increase. So. they have no choice but buy them.
Most of their days are filled up with the activity ‘mejejahitan’ or preparing offerings. For career women, it is not necessary for them to stop to work because they can do this after office hours. Probably, they do it in the evening with their family.
In the meantime, men take their job portion by preparing raw materials such as bamboo, shrine, and coconut for spices et cetera. One day prior to the Galungan festivity, men jointly cut up pigs in groups that is called mepatung in Balinese. The meat is used for ingredients of offerings and the remainder for consumption. They also make distinctive Balinese lawar dishes (chopped meat with fresh salad like papaya, string bean, jackfruit), komoh (clear soup) and various satays. Some of these dishes will be given to their nearby neighbors to maintain social relationships known as ngejot. On exchange, the neighbors will also give theirs. So, they can taste their lawar and maintain the social relationships coincidentally.
Having completed the kitchen work, men prepare the penjor. It is a bamboo pole adorned with festoons, fruit, tubers, cake and arrangements made of coconut leaves. Then, a bamboo temporary shrine is affixed in front of the penjor. On the same day, the family shrine’s paraphernalia is set up like umbul-umbul, sacred yellow and white umbrellas and others.
Galungan is a festivity dedicated to memorialize the victory of dharma (truth) against adharma (untruth) and invite forefathers coming down to earth. Their pretisentana, or descendants, would like to express gratitude and devotional service in the worship at family shrines. Besides, devotees also say their prayer at associate ancestral (pura dadia) and village temples.
While for Nyepi, or Silence Day, preparation is made one day before. Cosmic exorcism rites or mecaru is performed from family to national level. There are also four abstinences that should be obeyed, namely performing no activity, no entertainment, no lighting and no outside activities. Performance of these abstinences is observed by pecalang, a customary village’s security task force. Similarly, no land traffic is allowed to operate on this day except for emergency cases. It is with silence and self-contemplation the Hindu welcome their New Caka Year 1927. Again, Happy New Year to All! (BTN/029)