THE GALUNGAN FESTIVAL

Among the many holidays in the Balinese 210-day calendar, the most prominent are undoubtedly those of Galungan and Kuningan ; the former on the Wednesday of the Dungulan week and the latter on the Saturday on the Kuningan week. Due to their frequency - roughly once every seven Gregorian month-these festival are not celebrated as national holidays, but don’t try to do anything between Penampahan Galungan (the day for the slaughter of the pigs that precede Galungan) and Manis Galungan, the day following it, or on Friday preceding Kuningan ; everything is closed. People go back to their village of origin to present offering to their ancestor and village temples.

Unlike most Balinese festivals which celebrate the particular anniversary of a temple, and are therefore scattered across the calendar, Galungan and Kuningan are all-island holidays : everywhere, temples are all dressed up, with black and white or yellow cloth wrapped around their individual shrines as a sign that they are “occupied”, meaning the gods are visiting their descendants. The ritual involved is reminder of the strong ancestor’s cult aspect of the Hindu Balinese religion. When it took root in Bali, Hinduism, instead of throwing away the older tradition as Christianity and Islam tended to do, integrated elements of ancestral beliefs and natural animism into its corpus, the rationale being that everything and every belief can be interpreted as “ray” or a manifestation of the “Ultimate Sun” of Surya ( Siwa ).

The ancestors do not come before being properly “invited”.

They are expected to come on the Sugihan Jawa day when one makes offerings for the welfare of the world. The call is made in familiar language : “mai jani mulih. Suba iyang ngaenang banten. Mai delokin damuh-damuhe, “ which means : Please, come back home for a visit, we have prepared you food, please come and visit your descendants.

This is all the more important for “dead “ souls which have not yet undergone the whole cleansing process. If the dead is still buried in the cemetery, the soul is thought to be still hanging around nearby, provisionally entrusted to the God, the deity Prajapati. Thus it has to be handled with special care, and given the right punjung offering, lest it wreaks havoc among the living. But if the soul has been cremated and enshrined in the family temple, the danger is lessened and the chances are that its influence will be beneficent. The language will change, though, to become more formal and religious, and the offering will be different, too : this time it will be a saji.

The visit of the ancestors is expected to the last until Kuningan. They will have feasted long enough and it will be time for them to go back their realm of death. Another injunction will do : “Mangkin mantuk ke kedituan “, which means “ Go back over there to your abode of the dead”. The shrines ate then undressed and temples return to quietness, waiting for another festival.

So, if you happen to be in Bali for one of these two festival, either Nyepi or Galungan, don’t miss a visit the villages.