This tiny island of Bali has been known for its thousands of temples and spiritual way of living. Tri Hita Karana or simply translated as 3 causes of wellbeing is used as a life’s philosophy that enhances the many aspects of Bali’s population that are majority Hindu Dharma. Those three are Parahyangan – connection of human beings to God, Pawongan – connection of human beings with others, and Palemahan – connection of human beings with mother nature. The connection to God can be seen in various temple ceremonies, devotion, everyday’s offerings, and praying. Our human aspect would need to be connected and interacted as individuals within a society and taking care of nature as it’s the only place for all living beings to be, while our spiritual connection with The Higher Spirit also need to be strengthened
With that being said, I am going to introduce you to one of Bali’s biggest ceremony called Galungan. Galungan is marked as the day where ancestors are descending to give the blessing. To the Balinese, the ancestor is a direct messanger or the guardian. Ancestors should not be forgotten. Galungan itself is a full day ceremony that begins first in the early morning at each family temple, then continue to the village temples known as Tri Khayangan Desa – these are 3 temples to worship Brahma ( The Creator ), Visnu ( The Preserver ), and Shiva ( The Transformer ) also widely known as Trinity God. Right after that everyone could continue to visit other temples within or beyond the village. Galungan falls on Wednesday every 210 days but the sequence starts far before that. Tumpek Wariga is a ceremony that happens 25 days before Galungan. It means to give blessings to the plants that aimed for the plants to grow abundantly. Many fruits especially bananas as well as other locally grown fruits, leaves such as: young coconut leaf, banana leaf, betel leaf and flowers are the main ‘ingredients’ for making offerings for the big day . A week before Galungan, there is Sugihan Jawa followed by Sugihan Bali on the next day. Both are aimed to energy cleanse and purify each layer of the macrocosmos/land and human body/microcosmos on the following day by doing the specific ceremony. On Sunday H-3, is the day of Panyekeban literally means isolation, contemplating, and having full control of the self. From what is understood, there are a lot of things that need to be prepared or made. This somehow could put a little pressure on mental and emotional, exhausted body & energy as well as in financial wise. This all should not interrupt our good intention. On Monday H-2, Penyajahan. While continuing the preparation in which on this day most women will spend the day on making various traditional cakes ( please bear in mind that most traditional cakes use for offerings are not baked! It requires a long time and elaborate work to make. And they are not just steamed or fried after laid for direct sunlight, some even need to be continuously kneaded or pounded ) as part of the offering. On Tuesday H-1, what’s common and perceived as a tradition in this day is slaughtering pigs and chickens. That’s why this day called Penampahan. Pig is slaughtered as a symbol of killing negativity in which later certain part of that will be saved for used to make segehan. Pigs are seen as representative of laziness and greed. Men are playing an important part on this day in taking care of the meat and the kitchen while women need to do a final part for the offering. At early morning around 4.00 am or even earlier, men would gather to slaughter the pig. The meat then will be shared equally within the group to which then will proceed into various dishes. Segehan is a form of offerings for the below spirit. It is always placed on the ground, never above in the temple shrine. Segehan often seen with rice in various color: red, black, orange, white, and sliced shallot and ginger. In the case of Penampahan, meat from the pig is placed in a segehan. The purpose is to neutralize and put into balance the energy of the macrocosmos and microcosmos – sekala and niskala – seen and the unseen – the divinity and the evil – left and right – above and below. Besides that, ofering called sesodaan that consist of rice, chicken, a tiny bowl of water and canang genten (flower offering) also made for the ancestor. On this day, Penjor ( bamboo decoration ) will be set right at the entrance/gate of each house. Then on Wednesday comes the big day of Galungan, where everyone worships the ancestors as well as God for the blessings and gifts that have been given in various forms.The ancestors are being said would be staying near us for the next 10 days until Saturday – the day of Kuningan – before they ascending to the ancestral realm. The preparation from H-3 would be the same as in Galungan, but the ceremony of Kuningan only lasts until 12.00 noon.
The spirit of Galungan is celebrating victory! It is clearly repeated through generations that Galungan is the day when the light wins over the darkness , the good wins over the evil or ‘locally’ speaking it is the day to celebrate Dharma wins over Adharma. In the mhytology had said that once it’s began when Bali at that time was govern by a king named Mayadenawa. He did not only govern Bali, but also had conquered some islands beyond Bali. Due to his pride of his own unbeateable and undefeatable power, he then loosing his wisdom and started to act that he is the God himself. He ordered his people to stop to perform any kind of religious ceremony or offerings at the temples or holy places and to begin to worship him as the God Itself. For years, this situation had created unbalance in energy levels. Instead of living in harmony, life was felt so devastating and unhealthy. This reality has drawn empathy from a High Priest to bring the light over this darkness. He had then given the answer through his deep meditation to seek help from God Indra – the God of war – to which He agreed to help. The battle between the two last for days. Almost defeated, Mayadenawa used an unfair trick to win the battle. He created spring water that he previously had poisoned, later the army of God Indra unknowingly drank from this source and died. Notices something went wrong, with His divine power God Indra neutralize the water by replacing the poison from each particle of the water with healing particle. Today, this Holy Spring Water known as Pura Tirta Empul and still believed as a place for healing in energy and aura level through holy water cleansing and purification ceremony by the Balinese. The divine law has said that goodwill always wins over evil – King Mayadenawa was killed and God Indra had won the battle. That brought a new spirit towards life after darkness with more balanced energy that leads to harmony and peace inside – outside.
More than that, what the story has taught us is to not overcome by pride. Having self-control and self-awareness is important. But of course, we every day need to meet ourselves deeper and better. Without doing inner work, this won’t be easy. The voice of the truth comes from the heart. Sharp intuition will help us to distinguish the mind’s voice and the heart’s voice. The story has also clearly told us that truth and being enlightenment will certainly lead us to our victory.
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