Day 3- Celebrating death and life- lessons from Bali

Bali has been on my Bucket list since years and finally after years of persuasion, last week Micky decided to take me there so I could tick it off, more so, to stop me from looking at him with begging eyes every time someone mentioned Bali!

It was a dream trip! We decided to stay in Ubud. A beautiful, exotic place full of temples, green paddy fields and forests was just perfect for a holiday. Our driver was a talkative, smart guy who had happily self-appointed himself as our guide for our stay there.

Amongst many other interesting sights in Ubud, we saw beautifully decorated homes and tall animal effigies. Our driver explained it as the "Cremation ceremony". We got some gist of the celebration but lost most of the explanation in translation. So I decided to learn more about this celebration on my 3rd day of the learning project. 


The front gate décor for the celebration



Animal Effigy for the celebration




 Ngaben, or the cremation celebration is to celebrate the journey of the deceased souls to the next life (always considered better! No concept of hell- a valuable thread of thought in itself!). In the Balinese tradition, this is done with style and much flair. Like the Hindus in India, the Balinese Hindus believe in burning the deceased to help the soul move on to the next life. However, unlike the Hindus, the Balinese have adopted a much calmer and celebratory view of death. The elite death is celebrated whenever required (within three days usually of the death) as they have the money to do so. However, the rest of the community members bury their dead till they have collected enough money for the celebratory mass funeral, to send their departed off with a community celebration - the Ngaben.

All homes that have a deceased to be celebrated, are decorated. Our Driver's home too was decorated. The community members prepare for the ceremony together, weaving straw mats and preparing other offerings. This takes weeks. We saw one such preparatory evening where many of the members had come out in big numbers to prepare for the celebration. It was amazing and humbling to see the community spirit in these simple and beautiful folks. The ease, comfort and calm way of discussing death was certainly a unique experience.



Community members preparing for the ceremony

 

The preparation for the event takes days. Finally on the designated day, after prayers, the bodies of the deceased placed in coffins are inserted in the sarcophagus of the tall, ornate effigies of the bull or horse etc. and taken to a special place - usually an open field - for the funeral. The entire effigy made of paper mache is lit up and consumed by fire. The relatives of the deceased celebrate the event. There is food, chanting, talking, children running around and an almost festive party-like atmosphere for the farewell of the dead rather than the more familiar sombre ceremony in many other cultures. Later, the bones of the departed are collected and released in water.

 

I can't help draw parallels with the season of the Holy Ghost festival for the Chinese in Singapore, the Shraaddh observed by the Indian Hindus and the Day of the dead celebrated in Mexico. There are different ways different cultures mourn/celebrate after-life. What struck me though in Bali, was the wonderfully comfortable and easy mix of many traditions and religions - the coffin, the effigy, the fire- representing elements of various religions and even animistic traditions. It was an amazing and a new concept when I first heard of it. The more I read about it, the more interesting and thicker the warp and wefts of various cultures become.

 

Lesson 1 from Bali!