Balinese Hinduism
Balinese religion is known to the world through the richness of its rituals. There are few societies, where religion plays such a role as in Bali. There are rituals and offerings, that seems anytime, everywhere and on all occasions, harmonizing the world of man with the cosmic world of the gods. People sleep with their heads in the direction of the mountain, where gods have their residence; they do not engage in work without first consulting with a “priest” on the propitious “day” and “hour” determined by the place occupied by the gods and demons on the cosmic wheel of time. When they build a house, it is patterned after the structure of the world, with its godly part, the temple, its human part, the living quarters, and its demonic part, the kitchen and entrance. Gods and demons seem to be everywhere. The life of the Balinese is thus replete with rituals.
Balinese rituals are ruled by a complex calendar system, which intermingles two sets of calendars: the Saka calendar and the Wuku Calendar. The first one is of Indian origin, starting in 78 AD, and rules primarily the agricultural cycle. The Saka year is divided into sasih lunar months and is fitted into the solar calendar by the addition of an extra month every thirty month.
Purnama (full moon) and Tilem (dark moon) are the most important ritual moments of this calendar. The first day of this Saica calendar, usually falling in March, is the day of Silence, when the world rests: no traffic, no fire, no work. But the second calendar, the Wuku, is still more important to the Balinese. It consists of a cycle of 210 days, divided in thirty wuku weeks, each of which corresponds to a specific activity: there is the week of the weapons, that of the domestic animals, etc. But this is not the end of it. Beside the wuku week, there are ten types of other “weeks” varying from one to ten days, each of these “days” having a name and value. The days of these “weeks” (wara) thus compute within each other, revealing the auspicious and inauspicious “days” of the calendar. For example the crossing of the Kliwon day of the five-day week and of the Tuesday (Anggara) of the seven day week corresponds to one of the favorite festivals of Bali, the Anggarkasih. Others are Tumpek and Buda Kliwon’, each recurrs every 35 days (7×5). The principal festival days of this calendar are Galungan and Kuningan, when all the ancestors come down for a visit to the humans. Another important day, which marks the end of this calendar cycle, is Saraswari day, the day of the goddess of knowledge.
Rituals are tools for keeping the balance of the world. To each of the levels of the world or Loka correspond a specific category of rituals. The Buta Yadnya rituals addresses the demonic forces and comprise cleansing and exorcising ceremonies; they are most visible by the small offerings of rice put on the ground; the Manusa Yadnya rituals cover the principal moments of Man’s life, - the Penyambutan after birth ceremonies, the Otonan anniversaries, the Mesangih or tooth filing and wedding ceremonies; the Dewa Yadnya rituals comprises all the ceremonies addressed to the gods, and in particular the temple festivals (piodalan). The two other types of rituals, pitra yadnya and resi yadnya , deal respectively with the ceremonies of the dead, and in particular the cremation and post-cremation ceremonies (pengabenan, mukur, meajar-ajar, melinggihang) and the ordainment of priests (pediksaan).