Quand vous demandez Ă des balinais, ce quâest Galungan, certain ne savent pas vraiment vous expliquer, mais vous sentez que câest trĂšs important đ
Il y a tout un rituel plusieurs jours avantâŠmais je ne vais que vous parler du jour dâavant et du jour dâaprĂšs, Penampahan Galungan et Manis Galungan.
It was Wednesday, 17 December. Itâs always a Wednesday. It is the biggest ceremony day in Bali, every 210 days. It is the one that requires the most preparation, days of preparation. Itâs a special atmosphere for those who are not Balinese đ
Few days before, when you walk around the streets, the first Penjor just grow up in front of the temples and houses, itâs magical! Those huge bamboo sticks, ornated, colourful, all differents, swinging in the windâŠone…then two..then threeâŠthen fourâŠSometimes you have the feeling that they will fly awayâŠbut no! They are standing there, swinging above our heads with their little offering templesâŠAnd I heard it is even more beautiful in the villages around.
When youâre asking Balinese, what is Galungan, some of them donât really know how to explain, but you can feel it is very important đ
What I understood, is that they are celebrating Victory from Good over Bad, Dharma over Adharma. They invite Gods and ancestors to come back on earth to celebrate with them this victory J And the Penjors, standing towards the sky, are here to help them to find the way to come down on earthâŠI like the idea đ
Each Penjor has a small altar (Sanggah Penjor) which represents Besakih Temple and inside which thay put offering for Mont Agung.
There is a ritual several days before but I will only tell about the day before and the day after, Penampahan Galungan and Manis Galungan.
Penampahan Galungan: day before Galungan, in the vilages, men kill the pig (and also chicken and ducks). They cut it, chop the meat, and prepare sate and lawar, traditional Balinese preparation (skin of the pork well chopped, mixed with minced meat and spices of course đ ). Men also make the Penjors and install them in front of the houses.
Women prepare other offering days before (biscuits, candies and sticky rice).
Galungan: On Galungan day, they start very early morning, around 4 or 5ock. They bring lots of offering trays in many temples. Then, back home, they also leave offering everywhere in the house in the family altars where the women bless them with holy water.
The offering are made of rice, sate, fruitsâŠThey also leave offering on all the important things they use in everyday life like on cars, motorbikes, television, computersâŠ
Then, family is meeting in family temple to pray all together, and in all others family temples, and main temples.
Manis Galungan: The day after Galungan is called Manis Galungan. This day is devoted to visit family members, meet each others, eat together, chating, walk around.
I understood that these three days were really busy and intense days for Balinese people , full of colours, emotions and prayersâŠ
I would like to thanks deeply, Eka, my wonderful Galungan reporter, who took time to take pictures for me during this very special day and who allowed me to publish them for you! Suksma sweet Eka đ and I would like also to thank all the people I bothered with my questions concerning this big ceremony, Galungan and who took time to answer me and explain me đ
Of course it is only a quick overview of what is Galungan, but it gives you an ideaâŠNow waiting for Kuningan đ
Sources: « Ma vie balinaise » – « Sur le chemin des offrandes Ă Bali »
After few months of silence, I thought that today was a good day to write back on my blog đ
Rainy season started in Bali and Iâm off today.
I couldnât or I didnât take the time, is much appropriated to say, to finish telling the story of my South East Asia trip but I will, soon or later. Iâve written everything down and I still have tons of photos to post!
But today, Iâll be writing about the rainy season in Bali.
It will be my first rainy season but not the last one đ
ItâsâŠhow to say that? Again one of this thing that life makes me discoverâŠ
There are tons of things to write and say about rainy season in Bali and this post will be the first one of a long series I think!
First of all, itâs raining⊠a lot! Itâs a big change comparing to the desert in Egypt where we were waiting the rain sometimes for agesâŠall the yearâŠsometimes it was coming,  sometimes not at allâŠ
But here, itâs coming all of a sudden, from one day to the other, without notice and then it goes again and come back again, everyday! Sometimes from the morning, sometimes at night, sometimes in the eveningâŠwith storm, thunder, clouds and the sun who appears and disappears behind them đ
Few things to remember and keep in mind during the rainy season:
Always have a rain coat with you either in your hand bag or under your scooter seat (NB: donât forget it where you put it to dry the day before, like me today
Love green and mud (gadoue?)
Always have spare clothes
Love having hair that curl
Never plan a long scooter trip
Love rain
Drive carefully with the scooter
Prepare lots of good music playlists because when itâs raining you can be stuck at home or somewhere else
Always have food at home because when itâs raining you donât want to go out to eat but I guess and hope you get used to it, to go out even with the rain đ
Enjoy the sound of rain and storm
Do not be afraid of frogs because during rainy season itâs frogs party in Bali đ
Iâll give more tips later because rainy season just started !
Just in case, for those who might not know yet, Iâm living in Bali now đ
Feel free to come and visit me whenever you want, except maybe during rainy season đ
"Si vous pensez que l'aventure est dangereuse, je vous propose d'essayer la routine…Elle est mortelle" Paulo Coelho