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Rules of Engagement
The Amazing Trace

APCERT 2012 Fellowship Program Committee & APCERT Secretariat (JPCERT/CC)
Email : apcert-sec@apcert.org

Each stage of Balinese life is marked by a series of ceremonies and rituals known as Manusa Yadnya. They contribute to the rich, varied and active life the average Balinese leads.

Birth

The first ceremony of Balinese life takes place even before birth. Another ceremony takes place soon after the birth, during which the afterbirth is buried with appropriate offerings. The first major ceremony takes place halfway through the baby’s first Balinese year of 210 days.

Names

Basically the Balinese only have four first names. The first child is Wayan or Putu, the second child is Made or Kadek, the third is Nyoman or Komang and the fourth is Ketut. The fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth will be another Wayan, Made, Nyoman, Ketut and Wayan again.

Childhood

The Balinese certainly love children and they have plenty of them to prove it. Coping with a large family is made much easier by the policy of putting younger children in the care of older ones. After the ceremonies of babyhood come ceremonies marking the stages of childhood and puberty, including the important tooth-filing ceremony.

Marriage

Every Balinese expects to marry and raise a family, and marriage takes places at a comparatively young age. Marriages are not, in general, arranged as they are in many other Asian communities although strict rules apply to marriages between the castes. There are two basic forms of marriage in Bali – mapadik and ngorod. The respectable form, in which the family of the man visit the family of the woman and politely propose that the marriage take place, is mapadik. The Balinese, however, like their fun and often prefer marriage by elopement (ngorod) as the most exciting option. Of course, the Balinese are also a practical people so nobody is too surprised when the young man spirits away his bride-to-be, even if she loudly protests about being kidnapped. The couple go into hiding and somehow the girl’s parents, no matter how assiduously they search, never manage to find her. Eventually the couple re-emerge, announce that it is too late to stop them now, the marriage is officially recognized and everybody has had a lot of fun and games. Marriage by elopement has another advantage apart from being exciting and mildly heroic it’s cheaper.

The Household

There are many modern Balinese houses, but there are still a great number of traditional Balinese homes. The streets of Ubud; nearly every house will follow the same traditional walled design.

Men & Women

There are certain tasks clearly to be handled by women, and others reserved for men. Social life in Bali is relatively free and easy. In Balinese leisure activities the roles are also sex differentiated. Both men and women dance but only men play the gamelan. Today you do see some women painters, sculptors, and woodcarvers.

Community Life

Balinese have an amazingly active and organized village life. You simply cannot be a faceless nonentity in Bali. You can’t help but get to know your neighbors as your life is so entwined and interrelated with theirs.

Death & Cremation

There are ceremonies for every stage of Balinese life but often the last ceremony-cremation-is the biggest. A Balinese cremation can be an amazing, spectacular, colorful, noisy and exciting event. In fact it often takes so long to organize a cremation that years have passed since the death. During that time the body is temporarily buried. Of course an auspicious day must be chosen for the cremation and since a big cremation can be very expensive business many less wealthy people may take the opportunity of joining in at a larger cremation and sending their own dead on their way at the same time. Brahmans, however, must be cremated immediately. Apart from being yet another occasion for Balinese noise and confusion it’s a fine opportunity to observe the incredible energy the Balinese put into creating real works of art which are totally ephemeral. A lot more than a body gets burnt at the cremation. The body is carried from the burial ground (or from the deceased’s home if it’s an ‘immediate’ cremation) to the cremation ground in a high, multi-tiered tower made of bamboo, paper, string, tinsel, silk, cloth, mirrors, flowers and anything else bright and colorful you can think of. The tower is carried on the shoulders of a group of men, the size of the group depending on the importance of the deceased and hence the size of the tower. The funeral of a former rajah high priest may require hundreds of men to tote the tower.

A long the way to the cremation ground certain precautions must be taken to ensure that the deceased’s spirit does not find its way back home. Loose spirits around the house can be a real nuisance. To ensure this doesn’t happen requires getting the spirits confused as to their whereabouts, which you do by shaking the tower, running it around in circles, spinning it around, throwing water at it, generally making the trip to the cremation ground anything but a stately funeral crawl. Meanwhile, there’s likely to be a priest halfway up to tower, hanging on grimly as it sways back and forth, and doing his best to soak bystanders with holy water. A gamelan sprints along behind, providing a suitably exciting musical accompaniment. Camera-toting tourists get all but run down and once again the Balinese prove that ceremonies and religion are there to be enjoyed. At the cremation ground the body is transferred to a funeral sarcophagus, this should be in the shape of a bull for a Brahmana, a winged lion for a Satria and a sort of elephant-fish for a Sudra. These days, however, almost anybody from the higher castes will use a bull. Finally up it all goes in flames funeral tower, sarcophagus, body, the lot. The eldest son does his duty by poking through the ashes to ensure that there are no bits of body left unburned. And where does your soul go after your cremation? Why, to a heaven which is just like Bali!

Music, dance and drama are all closely related in Bali, in fact drama and dance are synonymous. The most important thing about Balinese dances, however, is that they’re fun and accessible. Balinese dances are not hard to find; there are dances virtually every night at all the tourist centers.

The Gamelan

Balinese music is based around an instrument known as the gamelan. The gamelan is such a central part of Balinese music that the whole ‘orchestra’ is also referred to as a gamelan. Gamelan music is almost completely percussion. Though it sounds strange at first with its noisy, jangly percussion it’s exciting and enjoyable.

Kecak

Probably the best known of the many Balinese dances, the Kecak is also unusual in that it does not have a gamelan accompaniment. Instead the background is provided by a chanting ‘choir’ of men who provide the ‘chak-a-chak-a-chak’ noise. Tourists especially enjoy the performance staged by the Kechak dancers. This dance is also deeply rooted in local tradi- tion and Indian mythology and is inspired by Ramayana, an epic poem written in Sanskrit. The dance brings to life the tale of King Rama, his wife Dewi Sita and his brother Laksamana who were exiled to the forest for 14 years following some complex scheming in a struggle for power. In the forest, they are persecuted by Rahwana, the ogre king who then abducts Dewi Sita and makes her a prisoner of his palace on the Island of Lanka (Ceylon) . Rama strikes an alliance with the monkey people whose army de- feats Rahwana’s troups, making it possible for King Rama to rescue his wife. In each Kechak performance, a hundred or so dancers play the monkey army while a few female dancers are assigned specific roles (Dewi Sita, Trijata). The performance generally lasts one hour and takes place in the evening, preferably around 7 PM.

Barong & Rangda

It’s the most popular dance for tourists. A straightforward battle between good, the barong, and bad, the rangda. The barong is a strange creature, half shaggy dog, half lion, propelled by two men like a circus clown-horse. The widow-witch rangda is bad though and certainly not the sort of thing you’d like to meet on a midnight stroll through the rice paddies. The Barong dance is truly a triumphant display of bright colors and graceful movements. Greatly appreciated by the tourists, special performances are staged for their benefit, generally in the morning, and last one hour. The villages of Batubulan as well as Tegaltamu and Singapadu, small towns located 30 minutes from the capital, are known for putting on the best performances.

There is, however, more to the Barong dance than the folkloristic dimension, It is, in fact, an integral part of the island’s culture and has an evident sacred connotation. It isn’t rare, in fact, to see the Balinese dancing the Barong during their religious ceremonies, regardless of the presence of tourists. Inspired by an episode taken from Mahabharata, an epic poem written in Sanskrit. the dance evolves around the character of the Barong, the king of the jungle. A mythical animal, not clearly identified (perhaps a lion), he is the symbol of virtue and good, subject to the continuous struggle against the evil forces that threaten life and the integrity of the forest, this being an element very dear to the Balinese population. In detail, the Barong embodies everything that can be beneficial to man, and help him defeat illness. black magic and any other kind of misfortune. The evil entity against which he must relentlessly fight is personified by Rangda, queen of death and devourer of children. She is characterized by a dark and gloomy mask from which a red tongue of fire hangs. The entire dance is centered around the struggle between these two rival characters. The Barong is interpreted by two dancers whose rhythmic movements bring to life the beautiful and elaborate cos tume they wear. a large animal head skillfully carved out of wood, brightly colored in red, white, black and gold. It is adorned with a crown extending outwards from the sides of the head, and by a prominent necklace which hangs from the neck, The final touch of the costume is a tail made out of bison leather which is elaborately finished and guilded. The first character to appear on the stage is the Barong with his swaying gait: his dance is meant to express the joy of living. He is followed by a group of armed supporters who stand ready to defend him.

When Rangda strikes her terrible blows. It isn’t at all rare for the dancers playing the Barong’s followers to become so engrossed in the sacredness of the per- formance that they go into a real trance. A cloud of characters surround the Barong on stage. Rangda, goddess of death, personification of evil, the young girl servant Kalika; Dewi Kunti, queen of the kingdom of Hastina and her stepson Sadewa who will be sacrificed in order to placate the anger of Rangda, the minister Dewi Kunti; Patih who ex- presses sorrow for the fate of Sadewa (Rangda will have to enter his soul in order to make him accept the sacrifice), and then the monkey supporters of the Barong, producers of palm tree wine (nira). A very important element in the entire dance is the large orchestra, known as gamelan, which is essential to underscore the ritual nature of the performance. Many are the instruments that make up the orchestra: some metal xylophones which stand out not only because they are so numerous but because of their power ful and imperious sound; there are also drums as well as flutes, the rebab (a type of violin) and the gender (typical xylophones). All together, these instruments are essential in guiding the dance and underscoring the rhythm of well coordinated movements. These along with the joyful colors are the most alluring elements of this remarkable perfor mance. At the end of the dance, the masks of the Barong and of Rangda, as proof of their sacred nature, are stowed in a special room inside the temple. They are covered very carefully, especially Rangda’s mask, because its deadly powers are greatly feared. It’s a way of saying that the ritual victory of the Barong, that is of good, which marks the end of the dance, is only temporary: tomorrow the eternal and unresolved conflict could begin again.

The end of the Barong dance is like an entirely separate performance. Also known as the Kris dance, it is named after the famous Malese dagger. The idea is based on the philosophical concept rwa bhineda. good and bad, evil and goodness which have always been present and have always existed together albeit in a constant and inevitably unre solved conflict. Nothing will change in the future. While man is left free to try to develop his positive attitudes and let them win over the negative ones, he must nonetheless resign himself to the fact that the presence of both good and evil is a law of nature and as such must be accepted. When the dance is performed, Rangda is the evil spirit which enters the bodies of his victims, usually followers of the Barong, and pushes them to the edge of suicide. The dancers attempt to stab themselves in the chest with their krises until they are finally stopped by the beneficial appearance of the Barong. It is he who will save these unfortunate beings by revealing that the notion of good and evil will always be inevitably present in the world and in everyone’s life and that they must therefore accept it.

Kris Dance

In the Barong play, Bali’s mythical guardian, Barong, battles Rangda, the demon – Queen. barong’s supporters are a group of Balinese men with the natural ability to enter a trance state. They are armed with a kris ( traditional sword). Rangda insults Barong and taunts the men- enraged and in a trance they attack her! But her powers are so strong that they are knocked out. When they come to they are so distressed by their failure, that they try to impale themselves on their kris. But their trance state amazingly protects them from injury.

Legong

It’s the most graceful of Balinese dances.  A legong dancer is known  as a young girl, often as young as eight or nine years, rarely older than her early teens. There are various forms of the Legong but the Legong Kraton is the one most often performed.

Baris

The warrior dance, known as the Baris, is traditionally a male equivalent of the Legong femininity and grace give way to energetic and warlike martial spirit.

Ramayana Ballet

Basically, it tells the same story of Rama and Sita as told in the Kechak but without the monkey ensemble and with a normal gamelan gong accompaniment.

Kebyar

It’s a male solo dance like the Baris but with greater emphasis on the performer’s individual abilities. There are various forms of Kebyar including the Kebyar Duduk and Kebyar Trompong.

Barong Landung

The giant puppet dance take place annually on the island of Pulau Serangan and a few other places in southern Bali.

Janger

The Janger is a relatively new dance which suddenly popped up in the ’20s and ’30s. Today it has become part of the standard repertoire and no longer looks so unusual.

Balinese Mask Dancers

Topeng

A mask dance where the dancers have to imitate the character represented by mask. A full collection of Topeng masks may number 30 or 40. Closely liriked to religious ceremonies and processions, and danced as a ritual interval, the Topeng dance ultimately takes on a sacred connotation. As a matter of fact, foreigners are allowed to see the dance only if they behave appropriately and respectfully. Actually, some performances are staged only for the benefit of the tourists, but do not enjoy the same following of the Barong and Kechak dances. Peculiar components of the Topeng dance are the masks used to hide the faces of the dancers. Specific attributes are used, instead, to identify the characters (a mustache and thick eyebrows for the elder, arrogance and defiance for Patih, and so on). The rhythm of movements (perfectly in accordance to the age and role of the character) is underscored by a large orchestra, the garnelan, which is essential for the success of the performance.

Jauk

Also a mask dance but strictly a solo performance.

Pendet

It’s an everyday dance of the temples, a small procedure to go through before making temple offerings.

Sanghyang (Fire Dance)

The Sanghyang trance dance originally developed to drive out evil spirits from a village. The Sanghyang Dedari dance is performed by two young girls who dance a dream-like version of the Legong but with their eyes closed. The Sanghyang Jaran, a boy dances around and through a fire, riding a coconut palm hobby-horse. In both dances, a priest is  always on hand to help bring the dancers out of their trancestate at the end of the performance.

Bali has a climate that is tropical all year. The average temperature hovers around 30 degrees Celsius year-round. There are dry and wet seasons – dry from April to September and wet from October to March – but it can rain at any time of year and even during the wet season rain is likely to pass quickly. In general May to August are the best months in Bali. At that time of year the climate is likely to be cooler and the rains lightest.

Around the coast, sea breezes temper the heat and as you move inland you also move up so the altitude works to keep things cool. It can get very cool up in the highlands and a warm sweater can be a good idea in mountain villages like Kintamani or Bedugul.

Bali is the home for a small community of people who adhere to Hindu. There is about 93.18% of the total population that adheres to Balinese Hinduism. The religion is a combination of Hindu influences from the Southeast Asia and South Asia mainland with the existing local beliefs. Islam is the minority religion with only 4.79% followers, while Christianity scores 1.38% and Buddhism 0.64%. Immigrants from other parts of Indonesia have not yet included in these figures.

In 16th century, after Islam took the control over Java, many Hindu people took refuge in Bali. The believers of Balinese Hinduism worship gods and demigods, the spirit of ancestors, indigenous agricultural deities, Buddhist heroes and sacred places. Religion in Bali is a composite complex system which has theology, mythology and philosophy as well as ancestor worshipping, magic and animism and pervades all aspects of life. Although less strict than in India, caste system is observed with discipline in Bali. There are an estimated 20,000 pura and shrines all over the island which made it also known as the Island of a Thousand Temples.

The roots of Balinese Hinduism are Indian Hinduism and Buddhism and it also adopts the local people’s indigenous traditions. Balinese Hinduism believes that gods and goddesses present in all things which makes every element in nature has its own power. Such power is believed to reflect the power of the goods. A dagger, woven cloth, rock or tree is believed to have their own power which can be directed for evil or good. The religion is interwoven deeply with ritual and art. All religious expressions are ritualized and shape the decorous and graceful behavior of the people.

There are also a small number of Chinese immigrants. The traditions of these immigrants meld with the local traditions. Therefore, Sino-Balinese harmonizes their original religion with the local traditions which makes it common to find a Sino-Balinese during an odalan in a local temple. Priests of Balinese Hindu are often invited also to perform necessary rites with a Chinese priest in a ceremony for the death of a Sino-Balinese. However, for administrative purpose, the Sino-Balinese has Buddhism as religion in their Identity Cards.

Bali Island is located 3.2 km or 2 mi easy of Java, 8 degrees south of the equator. Java and Bali are separated by the narrow Bali Strait. Its length from east to west is about 153 km or 95 mi while from north to south it spans up to 112 km or 69 mi. The total measure of the land area is 5,632 km2.

The highest elevation at the central of the main land reaches up to around 3,000 meters above the sea level, the highest of which is Mount Agung which reaches 3,142 meters. This active volcano is also referred as the mother mountain. Form central region to the east runs the mountainous range with Mount Agung as the easternmost highest point. The volcanic nature of the main land, combined with the high mountains which encourage rainfalls, makes Bali extremely fertile for agricultural crop. The most fertile area is located in the center of the main land to the south. Meanwhile, the northern side of the mountains slopes steeply toward the sea. This area becomes the main producer area for coffee, vegetables, rice and cattle. The longest river of the island is Ayung River, which flows as long as approximately 75 km.

Most areas of the island are surrounded by coral reefs and the northern and the western beaches tend to have black sand while those of the southern tend to have white sand. There are not any major waterways in the mainland. However, sampan boats can navigate the Ho River. There are some beaches in the area between Klatingdukuh and Pasut and these beaches are being developed for tourism. However, the most significant tourist spot until today in the area is still the seaside temple Tanah Lot.

Denpasar, located near the southern coast, is the biggest city in the mainland with a total population of approximately 491,500 according to the estimate in 2002.  Singaraja, the old colonial capital, home for 100,000 people and situated at the northern coast, is Bali’s second-largest city. Other major cities include Kuta and Ubud. There are three small islands at the southeast of the mainland. They are administratively parts of the Klungkung Regency. They are Nusa Penida, Nusa Ceningan and Nusa Lembongan. The three of them are separated from the main land by Badung Strait.

Lombok Strait at the east separates Bali and the rest of the Lesser Sunda Islands. This strait also marks the bio-geographical division between the fauna of Australasia and the fauna of Indo-Malayan eco-zone. The imaginary separating line is called the Wallace Line, which is named after the biologist Alfred Russell Wallace.

Bali was connected to Sumatra, Java and the mainland of Asia during the Pleistocene Ice Age, during which period the levels dropped. Hence Bali at that time shared the same Asian fauna. However, the Lombok Strait at that time had been deep water so that the rest of the Lesser Sunda Islands kept isolated.

As of 2005, there total population of Bali is 3,151,000. Expatriates living in the island are estimated at 30,000.

Bali history. There is no trace of the Stone Age in Bali although it’s certain that the island was already populated before the Bronze Age commenced there about 300 BC. Nor is much known of Bali during the period when Indian traders brought Hinduism to the Indonesian Archipelago. The earliest records found in Bali, stone inscriptions, date from around the 9th century AD and by that time Bali had already developed many similarities to the island you find today. Rice was grown with the help of a complex irrigation system probably very like that employed now. The Balinese had also already begun to develop the cultural and artistic activities which have made the island so interesting to visitors right down to the present day.

Hindu

Hindu Java began to spread its influence into Bali during the reign of King Airlangga from 1019 to 1042. At this time the courtly Javanese language known as Kawi came into use amongst the royalty of Bali, and the rock-cut memorials seen at Gunung Kawi near Tampaksiring are a clear architectural link between Bali and 11th century Java. After Airlangga’s death Bali retained its semi-independent state until Kertanegara became king of the Singasari dynasty in Java two centuries later. Artists, dancers, musicians and actors fled to Bali and the island experienced and explosion of cultural activities. The final great exodus to Bali took place in 1478.

European

Marco Polo, the great explorer, was the first recorded European visitor to Indonesia back in 1292 but the first Europeans to set foot on Bali were Dutch seamen in 1597. Setting a tradition that has prevailed right down to the present day, they fell in love with the island and when Cornelius Houtman, the ship’s captain, prepared to set sail, half of his crew refused to come with him.

Dutch

In 1710 the capital of the Gelgel kingdom was shifted to nearby Klungkung but local discontent was growing, lesser rulers were breaking away from Gelgel rule and the Dutch began to move in using the old policy of divide and conquer.

Independence

On 17 August 1945, just after the end of WW II, the Indonesian leader Sukarno proclaimed the nation’s independence but it took four years to convince the Dutch that they were not going to get their great colony Back.