Balinese culture is a unique combination of
spirituality,
religion, tradition and art.
Religion is considered to be art and it seems that almost every
Balinese
is a devoted artist, spending 'free time'
applying skills and images which have been passed down from
generation to generation and grasped from a very young age.
Expressed through beautiful and intricate paintings, extraordinary
carvings, superb weaving, and even in rice decorations
that cover the myriad shrines found in public areas, in paddy fields
or in homes, the island is alive with art and religious
homage.
Sekala and Niskala
Balinese culture is a complex event characterised
by diversity and adaptability. A central dictum in Balinese thinking is
the concept of Desa - Kala - Patra, (time, place and situation), a
dynamic notion holding that traditional thinking will blend
in harmony with the new. The Balinese distinguish between
Sekala,
the material, and
Niskala the eternal.
Reality is a coincidence of the material and the eternal realms. One
does not exist without the other. The world, therefore, is the
product of the interaction of
Sekala and Niskala.
Temple Festivals
Temple festivals are commonplace. Each village
will hold some sort of colourful
ceremony for each
one of its own temples a couple of times a year. Add to this the
rituals and celebrations for each persons' passage from
birth, puberty, marriage, childbirth to death and the after-world,
and include the major island-wide celebrations like
Galungan,
Kuningan and
Nyepi; the day of silence when the whole
island closes down in fear of evil spirits flying in
from the sea, and you can begin to understand how important
religion
in Bali is.
Hindu Dharma
Art, culture and day to day activities for most Balinese are
strongly bonded to a unique form of Hinduism called
Hindu
Dharma, which is widely thought to be the closest example to the
religion and social framework that existed in
Java
during the zenith of its power and is now found nowhere else.
Classical
dance dramas based on the old Hindu epics
of the
Ramayana and the
Mahabarata which arrived from
Java, are like everywhere else in
Indonesia,
mixed with pre-Hindu animist belief and peculiar local folklore. Not
all Balinese adopted the new Hindu religion though.
The
Bali Aga who now live in isolated groups in the mountains
at Trunyan and Tenganan, for example, preferred their
ancient
animist beliefs, which are still practiced and remain
largely intact today.
Balinese belief systems
The very soul of
Bali and
Balinese belief systems
is rooted in religion and is expressed in art forms and
skills that have been passionately preserved over the centuries.
During the mid sixteenth century Bali reached a cultural
climax, which encouraged and developed elaborate
arts and customs,
which are the foundations of what is practiced
today. In a sense they have changed very little since that time, but
as has been the case throughout much of the Indonesian
archipelago, adaptation of new environments is absolutely essential
for survival. It was at this time that the
Javanese
Hindu and the
Balinese calendars were combined and a
complex schedule of rituals and ceremonies was defined.
Nine great temples, the
Pura Agung, were also built, linking
the structure of the new calendar with that of the gods.
The most sacred being the
Mother Temple,
Pura
Besakih, built high on the slopes of Bali 's most sacred
mountain,
Gunung Agung.
