The rains are considering stopping as they have crossed the line into the dry season weeks ago. But the weather gods don’t seem to be in complete control these days.
The entire island is awash in green; Earth Day was just celebrated in the Ubud hills and people are getting ready for the Bali Arts Festival (mid-June to mid-July); Galungan and Kuningan holy days (June 27-July 7, 2007) and the Kuta Karnival in early September.
Galungan is a holy day celebrating the victory of dharma or justice/truth/right living over adharma or injustice/deception/the wrong path. It always falls on the Wednesday in the week of Dungulan in the Balinese calendar and Kuningan falls on the Saturday ten days later. On the Monday prior to Galungan, the women are frying up the ricecakes that are used in the offerings. Tuesday before Galungan, penjor or tall bamboo poles with offerings and sometimes rice plants hanging off of them, are placed outside of every family shrine on the road outside the house. The men of the household are making lawar a traditional dish consisting of finely minced pork, coconut, spices and at times the raw blood from the pig. Lawar is a must in the offerings.
Wednesday itself sees everyone dressed in their finest temple attire, taking offerings to temple, gathering with their family and of course, feasting and praying together. On Galungan, the ancestral deities are invited into the house temple to be feted and on Kuningan in the morning they are ceremonially bid farewell again. This occurs every 210 days, one Balinese year.
Galungan will occur on January 23, 2008 and Kuningan on February 2, 2008.
