BROTHER LEO SHARES FAITH AND CUSTOMS OF INDONESIAN ISLANDS BALI AND JAVA

Our next destination was Indonesia, specifically, the islands of Bali and Java. These islands are both similar and dissimilar. Both are small, densely populated islands in which religion is the dominating element of the culture. Religion pervades the daily life of these people. Bali is the sole exception to Indonesian Islam. Bali is Hindu. Java is an amalgamation of Hindu which gave way to Buddhism and is now experiencing widespread Muslim influence.
This article will focus, first, on an overview of Indonesia and then, on Bali. Bali is called "The Island of the Gods" or the "Island of Temples" and by secular promoters, "Lost Paradise." It is the only Hindu island in Indonesia with three million people, and 95 % profess to be Bali-Hindu.
The daily life of the Balinese is dominated by religion. They call Bali-Hindu a "religion with a free life style." They believe: "Religion comes from the sea/ Customs come from the mountains."
Indonesia has a population of 200 million with 300 ethnic groups. The language is based on five levels of a caste system. The country motto is "Unity in Diversity." Based on what I have written about the variety of castes, languages, population, race and religion, it is easy to understand why "unity" has been a persistent problem.
Indonesia artifacts date the land back to one million years B.C. When did the Europeans first discover Indonesia? Marco Polo visited in 1292. It was the Dutch who settled in Bali in 1597, but it was only centuries later when the Dutch became seriously active in establishing settlements. In 1904, Dutch warships appeared. Bali was subdued and became a Dutch colony is 1906. The Dutch remained in control until Bali fell to the Japanese after Pearl Harbor. Why did the Dutch come? They came to trade in cover, pepper, spice, nutmeg, tea, coffee and later in oil and rubber. In 1945 the island claimed independence. The Dutch government accepted their decision in 1949.
Indonesia today is 87% Muslim; 6 % Protestant; 3% Roman Catholic, 2% Hindu (Bali) and 1% Buddhist (Java). The languages of the country are Bahasa Indonesian (a modified Malay), English, Dutch and local dialects, especially Javanese.
Even before we reached Bali or Java we were in the Indonesian Archipelago, the largest in the world, some 3,100 sq. miles. Indonesia consists of a string of islands (and parts of islands) that straddle the Equator and the fringes of both the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Officially, there are 13,368 islands in the archipelago, of which 6,000 are inhabited. These islands stretch some 5,000 km. The climate varies but remains so close to the Equator that the climate is tropical. It reminded me of my days in the rainforest of Nigeria. Bali experiences tropical rains, followed by steam heat and slightly oppressive humidity, cooled by the ocean breeze at the shoreline. That's where the resorts are to be found, the luxury hotels featured in brochures and travel magazines.
Indonesia means "colored earth and water." Indonesia is volcanic and thus very fertile. It is the fourth most populated country after China, India and the United States. Bali is small (60 by 90 miles), densely populated (three million people) with fertile land and variations in vegetation. In the South where we concentrated our visit, nice paddies dominate, with both dense jungle and bamboo woodlands. Bali has many domestic animals raised for food, like pigs, chickens, ducks and cattle. A great abundance of fish are available. Green sea turtles are plentiful and are a popular delicacy.
Earlier I mentioned that religion pervades the daily life of the Balinese. There are four great religions on Bali, including animists; Hindu-Buddhism; Islam; and Christianity.
Animists perceive the spirit in everything and believe that everything has power and consciousness. Nature is deified; ancestors are worshipped and rituals include "blood sacrifice."
The Hindu worship Brahma, Shiva, Vishnu and Sanghyang Widi (the Supreme God). People have four names, the first of which is the religious name. The emphasis in Hindu is on cremation "born into a new life." There is a temple in every backyard and a shrine in every home, with over 5,000 major temples throughout the island. Hindus worship three gods: the Gods of creation, maintenance and destruction. A Hindu strives to achieve a balance in his/her relationship to the gods.
Indonesia is officially an Islamic nation. Islam was introduced by Arab traders about 500 years ago. Christianity is represented by various Protestant churches (six percent) and the Roman Catholic Church (three percent). Catholic missionaries first came to Java (next article) and survived "under the protection of the Sultan."
True to the tourist brochures, we were welcomed by music and Balinese dancers. Dancers perform traditional dances drawn from festivals. These dances combine music, drama, hand and finger motions. These drama and gestures blend religious beliefs and elements of the animist belief in magic and the spirits. The dockside welcome was a bit commercial, but would it be like Bali without the dancing and music, along with the hawkers of arts, crafts, cloth and carvings? "Only five dollars, Mister" "Only one dollar, Lady."
Our visit was on Valentines Day. It featured a 90-minute drive to Mount Batur, the islands most famous volcano and three stops to observe native arts and crafts. The journey was fascinating because of our narrow, winding, upward road through the rainforest, past villages and family compounds. We had time to have some of the cultural characteristics of Bali explained to us.
Our travels through the rain forest revealed banana, coconut, palm, bamboo and fruit trees in the hill country and rice in the valleys. Tapioca was evident everywhere. Seventy five percent of the people have nice farms. The men work in the fields in season on one or two acre farms. They usually maintain other jobs as carpenters or mechanics during the off-season.
Neighbors help each other in the rice fields. Women cook one meal in the morning for the entire day. Women also have another activity, usually a stall in the market place or along the highway. The shops are small, much like Pete Pratt's popcorn stand alongside the J.C. Penny store in my youth.
All farmers belong to a Farmers' Association, organized particularly to allocate water for the rice fields. The rice field of each farmer usually only produces enough rice for his own family. Motorcycles are plentiful. They and vans were the general mode of transportation.
Houses along the road were surrounded by low walls. The entrance gate was a single person wide. Roofs were of glazed tile, but occasionally tin or thatched. Each home (family) had a personal shrine. The houses were mostly one story and usually comprised of cinder block. Compounds are swept daily.
The house is really more of a complex of houses, joining but separate. There are sleeping quarters for the husband and wife; a family shrine; rooms for one or two children; guest quarters; an open building; one or two beds; a kitchen, storage and toilet. Each is separate but arranged together with some room for expansion.
The family is a very tightly knit social unit. When a girl marries, she moves into her husband's family home. People bring daily offerings to the temple. Some of the morning cooking is brought to the temple for a blessing. There are also complicated temple ceremonies associated with birth.
When a woman becomes pregnant, she goes to the temple. Holy water is used for cleansing and purifying. After birth, the placenta is buried in the yard of the family compound, males on the right, females on left. When the umbilical cord falls off it is preserved in a box and later made into a necklace to be worn by the baby for three months.
When the baby is one month plus seven days old, he/she is presented at the temple for a cleansing ceremony (42 days after birth). When the baby is three months old (105 days) he/she receives a name. Until then the baby is considered a spirit. On this day it becomes human. The baby is presented to the priest and washed. For the first time the baby touches the ground. The l05th day is the occasion for a family celebration at the family shrine.
Unfortunately, when we reached our summit Mount Batur was under clouds. The mist of the journey turned into rain. Even Lake Batur was barely visible.
As mentioned before, it was Valentines Day. What better or more romantic day for our next three village visits to see Balinese arts and handicraft (i.e. seeing and shopping)! We visited three centers: Ubud, famous for Ball paintings, Mas, famous for wood carvings and Celuk, the center for gold and silver works.
In each location, we saw artisans at work. In Ubud, we visited Nyuh Kembar Fine Art Gallery. The emphasis was on very fine paintings at some very fine prices (several were priced at between $2,500 and $5,000 USD). At those prices, most of our lady shoppers drifted away to bargain with the locals selling cotton and silk cloth wrap arounds.
At Mas we visited the studio of Mrs. Ida Bagus Marka. Spread over a wide area of adjoining buildings, we were able to disperse and observe almost a dozen woodcarvers at various stages of producing popular and sacred art. There were patio exhibits of massive woodcarved furniture, especially dining room, bedroom and living room furniture. Nothing compared to the enormous showrooms and warehouses of finished goods, unless it would be our Wal-Mart or K-Mart stores.
Self-examination and selection were welcome. Sales persons were available. Credit cards were accepted. Worldwide shipping was available. Yes, I "caved in." In our Provincial Center, we have a marble statute which I have always admired of a small boy sitting with an open book and reading. It's a classic statuette. I found a miniature. The statuette is European, but the carving is Balinese.
One of our more affluent passengers made a $25,000 purchase, plus $1,000 shipping. At first thought, you might have concluded that his purchase would be a unique or rare carving typical of Bali. No. It was a carving of a golfer with arm raised to swing. There is no accounting for some people's taste.
At Celiac, the gold and silver center, we were free to tour the work rooms, witnessing the artisans at work designing and preparing highly individualized silver jewelry. Our stop was the Rama Sitha Gallery, an upscale jewelry store. With some Jubilee Year gift money I selected a miniature silver Celtic cross and chain.
We were up country. Our return to the ship seemed interminable. Nightfall had come and only Indonesian tenders were permitted to service shore-to-ship shuttles after dark. That added another hour of waiting, which translated to another hour of dodging hawkers trying to make their last sales of the day. What was offered in the morning at five dollars was now offered for one dollar. "Please Mister, one dollar."
On our first day in Bali we saw home temples and shrines, as well as roadside shrines and village temples. Our second day was devoted to seeing the Eastern side of Bali as we drove to Besakin Temple, the mother temple of all Bali. This sacred temple rises at the height of almost 1000 meters above sea level. Basakih is a complex of 30 temples constructed along a terraced mountainside. The oldest section dates from the 8th century, then the 11th century. The present temple was founded in the 1700's. Some of the temple was partially destroyed by the volcanic eruption of 1963.
The Balinese made pilgrimages to Besakin at five year intervals. There are special festivals, especially each 100 years. In Bali, "every day is a ritual day." The Balinese believe in life after death. The more good deeds you do in life, the greater you will be rewarded in the hereafter (karma).
We men covered our heads (to eliminate secular and sensual thoughts while in this sacred place) and wore a wrap around to separate the lower (unclean) body from the upper body and "sacred head." In Bali, the head is so sacred that no one touches another head. The complexity of the temples, their height, their courtyards, and the uneven climbing made it difficult to visit many of the upper level temples.
Enroute to ship we visited the city of Klungkung, which formerly was the seat of the Kingdom of Klungkung. Here the King constructed his Hall of Justice (Kertha Gosa) between his temple and his palace. His Palace is now the museum of Bali tribal and colonial history. A wall and water surround the Hall of Justice. The setting is picturesque. The features of the Hall of Justice are the frescoes, paintings, gold leaf and artistic design, particularly in the ceilings. As in the churches of Europe where biblical stories are told through frescoes, so here the legends and mythology of Bali are recreated in recently restored art forms.
Klungkung was a hidden treasure. It was almost an add on to the Besakih visit, but it was worth more than Ubud, Mas and Celuk combined. It was totally uncommercial. There was no gift shop. No hawkers were allowed on the grounds. It was simply a quiet, cool, peaceful, reflective pause in the turmoil and heat of a densely populated tropical island. A perfect ending to two unique days in Bali.
Bali yesterday and today! Java tomorrow!