Galungan



Last week was the annual festival of Galungan. The Balinese believe that Galungan is the time when their ancestral spirits visit the earth. We went to one of the many village temples to see the ceremonies and rituals. Kuningan is the last day of the Galungan Festival which celebrates the victory of good over evil. During the festival we also went to Pura Tirtha Empul, a holy water temple which is of great imprtance during this festival. The temple was built around a fresh water spring in 926 A.D. It is said that Indra, a god, Stabbed the ground to create this spring to cure his army of the poison left by the evil king Mayadenawa.




After we left Tirtha Empul we went to Gunung Kawi, A beautiful temple down in a ravine full of terraced rice patties. Gunung Kawi is where the Kacak dance in the film Baraka took place. The complex comprises 10 rock-cut candi (shrines) carved into the cliff face. Gunung Kawi really feels ancient. Something almost primal about the way the rock is carved. Im currently working on a short film about balinese culture which is really coming together, we picked a great time of year to be here.






Comments

  1. Very nice and interesting stories, keep posting B.

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