About Balinese
People of Bali possess strong spiritual root, naturally creative, and are talented artist. By tradition the Balinese had been using their talents only for religious and rulers’ related purposes.
The major religion Hindu Bali, which came along with the spread of Hinduism from Sumatra and Java islands back to 11 century. As it name implies, Hindu Bali is a unique mix of Hindu, Buddhist, ancient indigenous beliefs plus old Javanese cultures which surely make it comparably different from the Hindu in India (despite worship the same Hindu gods Brahma, Shiva and Vishnu), especially in customs, practices and rituals, and there are quite so many different prime holidays as well.
With arrival of Islam influence in neighbouring Java during the 15th century, a large number of artists, craftsmen and musicians fled into Bali, creating an artistic resurrection.
These days, Balinese arts and cultures are still so much alive despite the tourism influence for years. Most of the beautiful works seen here have been inspired from ancient Hindu epics of Ramayana, Mahabrata, Bratayudha and others.
Balinese have a caste class society: Brahmana (heads of spirituals), Ksatria (the royal families), Sudra (the farmers & merchants) and Wesya (the lowest structure). Nowadays, this caste system in modern Balinese society has been blurrly existed. Where it’s not so strictly applied, everybody can be anyone, except for the holy spiritual heads, the ‘Pedanda’, which is still exclusively for Brahmana class.
Most of Balinese population of almost 3 millions live in a large extended family, in a tight traditional village communities. In addition, Balinese society is highly stratified. There is a general respect for elders and others, either taking account their caste and or wealth in the society. In Balinese language, one should address such persons in high Balinese, which vocabulary is different from the commoners’ one. This can be considered an evidence of the caste class presence. In general the Balinese language has three level: low for common people, mid for strangers in general and high level for heads of spirituals and aristocrats.
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