South Bali to Ubud and Three Sarongs

Today was a cultural, art and shopping day. For the Balinese Hindus, praying is done three times a day and always includes offerings. They pray to their ancestors, to the trinity (the three Hindu gods Brahma, Vishnu and Siwya), to the evil spirits (in hopes to keep them happy) and to the guardians. The Balinese strive for balance and harmony in life, and by praying to the evil spirits and giving them offerings, they hope to keep peace with them. Typical evil spirit offerings include flowers, coins, cigarettes, rice and even alcohol, and they are placed on the floor or the sidewalk. We saw plenty of these offerings today. On our bus there was an offering to the guardian – for safe travels, naturally. Gede, our guide, greeted us in traditional Balinese attire, with a temple sarong and a special hat representing the trinity. Men wear a looser sarong when they are performing temple duties, like preparing food and carrying supplies. Women wear a tighter sarong because their role is to carry the offerings – always on their heads. We saw a woman carrying the offerings on her head while riding a bike. Amazing!

We also saw evidence plenty of weddings today. There are special decorations that indicate a wedding is going on, and cars are decorated with sugar cane to indicate the sweetness of life to come. Before a couple marries, they consult the priest who advises them on the best day to marry. Guess today was very good! There’s also two ways to marry: the normal way, where both families agree to the marriage and arrange the date, and the non-normal way, which involves a “kidnapping” of the future wife so she spends the night at her future husband’s home. This occurs when one party (usually the bride's family) does not agree to the marriage, so the groom's family has to do something drastic in the name of true love. The next morning, a representative from the groom’s family visits the bride’s family and explains that since the bride has already spent the night at the groom’s house, it’s a done deal. Then, a wedding ceremony is held and the families reconcile. Kidnap weddings don’t occur that often anymore, but were very common as late as the 1970s.

Hoyt and I both have sarongs now. In fact, we have three between us. We didn’t plan it that way, but we visited the market in Ubud, an artistic center where we’re staying tonight, and the price kept getting lower (it’s low season here so vendors are willing to take just about any offer). We need sarongs to enter the Hindu temples. Pictures to follow!

Ubud is known for its roast pig, which we sampled at lunch today. We also had crispy Balinese duck for dinner tonight, which was quite good. Dinner was accompanied by a Balinese play depicting a Hindu parable. Did I mention it was hot in Bali??