Temple Ceremony

As we walked the jungle road into the village, we could hear the gamelan playing in the distance. We have been to the temple before, but it has been about 5 years, so we figured we'd follow our ears. Walking through the village we saw very few people and the closer we got to the temple, the further away the music seemed. Sure enough, the temple was deserted and quiet. We feared we had missed the procession, but we continued down the street in search of something we might photograph. I didn't want to call Made because I knew he was involved in the ceremony. Suddenly there were many people approaching us on the road, all dressed in their finest. We stopped to ask and were told to keep going.

Meanwhile, with all this walking, Jake's sarong (which I had tied incorrectly) was coming loose. Lace stopped and asked a group of women for help, since we don't have any experience with tieing a sarong man-style. Macaela and I were ahead of them, and when I realized they had stopped, I turned to look back. There was Jake in the middle of the road, village women gathered around, sarong wide open. Thank goodness he wasn't wearing it in the traditional way!

As we got closer to one of the main interesctions, we began to come upon people standing, sitting and squatting along the roadside. We greeted many old friends that we hadn't had the opportunity to see yet (this being our first day), so there were lots of questions: When you come to Bali? How long you stay? Where you stay? Why you not come so long?

At the intersection we found the party! Men mostly on one side, women on the other, and village security in the middle. The security detail is there to direct the vehicle traffic that continues to flow even though the street is crammed with people. We moved through the crowd, taking pictures and trying to figure out the best place to be for the upcoming procession. We inquired about where Made might be, and were told to stand with the women so we could be found when he came. Well, this at least gave us a different vantage point for our photos.

During all of this, you could still hear the music faintly, and at one point it got louder, changing the focus of everyone's attention. The procession was coming! The whole thing lasted about two minutes. They came up the street, through the intersection and down a little ways, then stopped. the women scurried around as soon as it had passed, spreading large woven mats and setting out the many offerings. Once this was all arranged, the women sat behind the offerings and the waiting began again.

At some unseen signal several minutes later, the music started up again and the procession came back to the intersection and turned up the main road. Once the entire group had made the turn, they stopped again. They were apparently here for the long haul this time, because all the musicians sat in the road and continued to play. Back at the crossroads, the holy man started to pray, and the women started to chant. We stayed as long as we could, recording the images and sounds of the ceremony, but the kids were tired, so we headed back home.

We stopped along the way for another snack, then home to bed. You could still hear the kulkul, the gamelan and the chanting late into the night.