March 2001,
For many westerners, Bali is only known as a country with beautiful tropical beaches. But we tried to look for something else...

This travel tale is mostly going to be dedicated to a Hinduism ceremony we were lucky enough to observe during six hours and where the only constraint was to rent a sarong. We were welcomed and were even allowed to take photographs.
We rented a car upon arrival at Denpasar airport and travelled extensively on the entire island during ten days! We decided to establish in Lova, in the northern part of the island for the first seven days. Everyday, from there, we would drive to a different part of Bali, which is not such a big island (80km by 140km), but where the traffic is packed with mopeds!
Essentially Indonesian, 95% of the population is of Hindu religion. You cannot disregard the religious aspect of Bali: one comes across temples in every village, oratories in the fields and offerings at every street corner.
Bali temples: The "pura" is a Sanskrit term meaning a space surrounded by a wall.
Pura Rambut Siwit is nicely set on top of a cliff west of the island, over a long stretch of sand. A fresh moment between the frangipani trees scent that fills in the atmosphere.

The offerings that are put down every morning pay tribute to the good spirits, when others, carelessly dropped down (like on the pavement at the houses' entrance) are meant to ease the bad devils.
The Bali people live among these opposite forces they try to reconcile with their rituals.

Temples are orientated towards the mountains (kaja), the sea (kelod) or the rising sun (kangin) as a sign of deference to the spirits. Good spirits live in the mountains and bring prosperity while giants and demons hide under the sea. In the village centre, the pura desa is dedicated to spirits protecting the village community in the everyday life. At the far end of the village, kelod, stands the pura dalem or the funerary temple which often shelters representations of Durga, a terrible incarnation of Shiva's wife.

The small town of Tampaksiring is well known for its vast temple offering public baths that were restored in 1959. The legend says that Indra the giant drilled the Earth and made the amrita or immortality elixir gush out. These sacred springs of Tetra Empul come from the Sungai Pakerisan waters, running from about 1km above and filling a reservoir inside the temple.
The people from Bali worship the same Gods as the Hindu Indians: Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu, but they also worship a supreme divinity called Sanhyang Widi.

For them spirits are everywhere, a belief reminding us that animism (belief in souls and spirits) constitutes the foundation of their religion. Other Hindu divinities like Ganesh, son of Shiva, with an elephant head, are occasionally seen but many divinities, spirits and entities specifically from Bali are much more present in everyday life.
Everyone on the island walks in procession. If you didn't see one in the streets it means you didn't move from the beach AT ALL! During these processions, all the men wear the same costume: two sarongs (one white and one yellow), a white jacket and a turban with each side representing the good and the evil.

The most important and well known Indonesian drum and gong group is the gamelan of Bali and Java. The gamelans, who stay close to their ancestral rituals and to fertility celebration, are also closely associated to Hinduism and Buddhism which were widely observed in Indonesia between 500 and 1500.