Cultural Village
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The Balinese village is typically host to a set of three village’s temples, the kahyangan tiga, each related to a focal aspect of the village’s symbolic life: the origin with pura puseh (navel temple) located mountain ward, where the gods of the village and its founders are worshipped; the territory itself with the pura desa, located in the centre of the village, where meetings of the village assembly and the rituals of fertility are held; the temple of the dead (pura dalem), located down ward, where the forces of death and the netherworld are worshipped, and near which burials take place. Besides these territorial temples, there are is also a temple for each banjar (bedogol or pura banjar), a temple for each subak, and the various temples of the local sub - clans (pura dadia or pura pami), each of which with its own calendar of festivals.
All temples of the kahyangan tiga are of paramount importance in the local rituals. Most ceremonies, at the level of the household or of other local temples, cannot take place before a “notification offering” (pejati) to the kahyangan tiga. The most important though, is arguably the pura desa, or village territorial temple, as evidenced by the honor shown to its god, the Batara Desa, who is usually given the forefront position during the village processions of gods. The village community (desa pekraman) corresponds in practice to the congregation of the pura desa, whatever the other affiliations. It is headed by the bendesa adat.
Much of the ritual work at the village level is shared among the various banjar, for example, one banjar may look after the pura desa for the upcoming festival and another banjar or the next one. Each banjar then redistributes the work entrusted to it to its members under the supervision of the klian banjar (neighborhood headman). No ritual activity can normally take place without the latter’s involvement and participation. See also page on Banjar.