Bali is full of hidden gems, one of them is the Banyan tree. During your vacation in Bali, you may see this tree from the small one until the giant one. The banyan tree is considered sacred by the Balinese if its root touches the ground.
A beautiful floating temple on Lake Bratan, located in the village of Candikuning, Baturiti, Tabanan. You can say that this temple is the second most important temple in Bali after the Besakih temple.
In Balinese, this temple considered Rwa Bhineda or the balance of two opposite as Pradana (feminine) while the Purusha (masculine) is Besakih temple. This temple is also a landmark of Bali because this temple is the most visited tourist destination with amazing scenery and also its history.
In general, the Lotus flower exudes beauty and grace, but for Balinese, it has several meanings that we will explain to you, one of them is very important …
Arak is the name of the local alcohol that has been produced for centuries and plays an important role in Balinese society because it is much more than banal alcohol for the Balinese as you will learn through this article.
The Balinese practice an ancient method to neutralize negative energies in someone, it called Melukat ceremony and this ritual has been passed from generation to generation and this is an important part of Balinese Hinduism. Read more “In Bali, we purify our soul with Melukat Ceremony”
Ngayah tradition is traditional volunteerism in Balinese daily life. Usually, Balinese will gather around in Banjar and doing some voluntary job, mostly for preparing the religious ceremonies or some events in the neighborhood. Well in this tradition, Balinese are not just to help each other, but they also sharing and socializing as the religious order.
Read more “NGAYAH TRADITION : Balinese Traditional Volunteerism”
One of the famous mountain in Bali is Mount Batur. Mt Batur is the second big mountain after Mount Agung. Furthermore, This mountain famous because this is a favorite place for tourists to trekking to the top of the mountain to watch the beautiful sunrise.
Mount Batur is an active volcano and has erupted more than 25 times.
There is a lot of legend about this mountain, but in this article, I will only tell you 2 of the most popular stories, namely about Mount Batur associated with the gods and the story of Kebo Iwa.
We all know that majority of Balinese work in the tourism sector. Some working on hotels, restaurants, tourist attractions, or travel agencies. During this disease, the government not allowed the tourists for visiting Bali, that’s mean everything has stopped and caused trouble for the tourism sector. A lot of restaurant and hotel hibernate. Beach and tourist attraction has been closed, every plan for visiting Bali this year is postponed, even some of the tourists canceled it.
The government tries to stop this pandemic with asked the people to stay at home, and it has meant a lot of people don’t work, so how the Balinese face this crisis?
People around the world may know that Denpasar is the capital city of Bali. Along ago Denpasar was a park. But not commonly park, it is King of Badung’s favorite park, Kyai Jambe Ksatria. Kyai Jambe Ksatria lived in Puri Jambe Ksatria, now known as Satria Market. This park quite unique, because there is a cockfighting place, the hobby of Kyai Ksatria. He often invited the other king in Bali to play cockfighting.
Historian said, the park more like a resting villa for the king. Denpasar comes from the word ‘den’ that means north and ‘Pasar’ mean market. People gave this name because it located in the north market. Now, this park becomes Jaya Sabha, the house for governor. In 1788 Denpasar was inaugurated as a city. The formation of this city underwent a long process, even since the island of Bali was still inhabited by kingdoms.
In mid 19th, the Dutch take control of northern Bali, their administrative capital is in The northern town of Singaraja.
Earlier, Denpasar is the capital of the Badung Kingdom. The royal palace was ransacked by Dutch in 1906, thousand Balinese included the King decided to destroy their own palace by committed suicide instead of surrendering to the troops. Nowadays if we look at the statue in Denpasar central square, it is memorializing the sad events.
After WWII Dutch move their administrative capital to Denpasar because of the new Airport. Some years later after Indonesian independence in 1958, Denpasar officially became the capital of the province of Bali.
Called ‘Pis Bolong’ in Balinese or ‘Uang Kepeng in Indonesians, these Chinese coins are living relics that make a ceremony incomplete without their presence. Ancient Chinese coins with a square hole in the middle and Chinese characters on the sides are everywhere in Bali, so find out why the Balinese use these coins.
Read more “Why the Balinese use Chinese coins in their rites?”
