Archives de catĂ©gorie : Life in Bali

Going soon …😎🌏🌍🌎

Majestic Gunung Agung

Version française cliquez ici 

It is almost time to leave… I cannot believe it but in exactly 1 month I will leave this beautiful Island Bali…

Time is flying
.!! 4 years spent here and it feels like it was yesterday I arrived here
Just crazy!

I will soon start again to write on my blog. I have to changes few things first but soon I will put my itinerary and more details about my world tour.

Stay tune! 

GALUNGAN BALI

English version, click here

Rahajeng Nyangra Galungan !

Galungan

 

 

C’était mercredi, 17 dĂ©cembre. C’est toujours un mercredi. C’est la plus grande fĂȘte de bali, tous les 210 jours. Celle qui demande le plus de prĂ©paratifs, des jours entiers de prĂ©paration. C’est une atmosphĂšre spĂ©ciale j’ai trouvĂ© pour ceux qui ne sont pas balinais 🙂

Quelques jours avant, quand on se promĂšne, les premiers Penjors poussent devant les maisons et les temples, c’est magique ! Ces grandes tiges de bambou, dĂ©corĂ©es, travaillĂ©es, colorĂ©s, tous diffĂ©rents, se balançant au grĂ© du vent
Un
puis deux
puis trois
puis quatre
Parfois on a l’impression qu’ils vont s’envoler
mais non ! Ils restent lĂ  Ă  se balancer au dessus de nos tĂȘtes avec leur petits temples aux offrandes
Et encore il paraĂźt que c’est encore plus beau dans les villages.

Penjor in Eka street

Quand vous demandez à des balinais, ce qu’est Galungan, certain ne savent pas vraiment vous expliquer, mais vous sentez que c’est trùs important 😀

Ce que j’ai compris c’est qu’ils cĂ©lĂšbrent la victoire du bien contre le mal, Dharma sur Adharma. Ils invitent les Dieux et leurs ancĂȘtres Ă  venir sur terre fĂȘter avec eux cette victoire 🙂 Et les Penjors qui s’élĂšvent dans le ciel sont lĂ  pour les aider Ă  trouver le chemin pour descendre
j’aime bien l’idĂ©e !

Offering for penjor

Chaque Penjor a un petit autel (Sanggah Penjor) qui représente le temple de Besakih et dans lequel ils déposent des offrandes pour le Mont Agung.

Il y a tout un rituel plusieurs jours avant
mais je ne vais que vous parler du jour d’avant et du jour d’aprùs, Penampahan Galungan et Manis Galungan.

Penampahan Galungan: Le jour avant Galungan, dans les villages, les hommes vont tuer le cochon (mais aussi parfois des poulets ou canards). Ils le découpent, émincent la viande, préparent des satés et du Lawar, préparation traditionnelle de Galungan (peau du porc finement émincée, mélangée à de la viande hachée et des épices bien sûr :D).


Galungan 1

Galungan 2

Ce sont également les hommes qui préparent les Penjors et qui les érigent devant les maisons.

Les femmes, elles, préparent les autres offrandes plusieurs jours avant (gùteaux secs, friandises et riz gluant).

Offering

Galungan: Le jour de Galungan, les activitĂ©s commencent trĂšs tĂŽt, vers 4 ou 5h du matin. Les plateaux d’offrandes sont portĂ©s dans de nombreux temples. Puis de retour Ă  la maison, les offrandes sont dĂ©posĂ©es Ă©galement dans les niches des autels familiaux et les femmes les bĂ©nissent. Les offrandes comportent du riz, des brochettes, des fruits
Ils dĂ©posent aussi des offrandes sur toutes les choses importantes utilisĂ©es dans la vie quotidienne comme sur les voitures, les mobylettes, les vĂ©los, les tĂ©lĂ©visions, les ordinateurs


Offering for Eka car offering for Eka bike

 

Eka mum hometown temple Temple2Ensuite, la famille se réunit pour prier dans le temple familial, puis dans les autres temples familiaux de la famille et pour finir dans les grands temples.

Manis Galungan: Le lendemain de Galungan est appelé Manis Galungan. Cette journée est consacrée pour aller visiter la famille, se rencontrer, manger ensemble, discuter, aller se promener.

J’ai cru comprendre que ces trois jours sont des journĂ©es bien chargĂ©es et trĂšs intenses pour les balinais, pleines de couleurs, d’émotions et de priĂšres


Je tiens Ă  remercier de tout mon cƓur, Eka, ma merveilleuse reporter de Galungan, qui a pris le temps de prendre des photos pour moi pendant cette journĂ©e si spĂ©ciale et qui m’a autorisĂ© Ă  les publier pour vous ! Suksuma douce Eka 😉 et je remercie aussi tous ceux que j’ai saoulĂ© avec mes questions concernant cette cĂ©rĂ©monie et qui ont pris le temps de me rĂ©pondre et de m’expliquer 😀

VoilĂ , ce n’est bien sĂ»r qu’un petit aperçu de ce qu’est Galungan, mais cela donne une idĂ©e
en attendant Kuningan 😉

Pour plus de photos cliquez ici

GALUNGAN

For French version, click here

Rahajeng Nyangra Galungan !

Galungan

It was Wednesday, 17 December. It’s 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. It’s a special atmosphere for those who are not Balinese 🙂

Few days before, when you walk around the streets, the first Penjor just grow up in front of the temples and houses, it’s magical! Those huge bamboo sticks, ornated, colourful, all differents, swinging in the wind
one…then two..then three
then four
Sometimes you have the feeling that they will fly away
but no! They are standing there, swinging above our heads with their little offering temples
And I heard it is even more beautiful in the villages around.

FullSizeRender-2

When you’re asking Balinese, what is Galungan, some of them don’t really know how to explain, but you can feel it is very important 🙂

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 earth
I like the idea 😀

Penjor temple
Penjor temple

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 🙂 ). Men also make the Penjors and install them in front of the houses.

Galungan 2 Galungan 1

Women prepare other offering days before (biscuits, candies and sticky rice).

Offering
Offering

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, fruits
They also leave offering on all the important things they use in everyday life like on cars, motorbikes, television, computers


Offering for Eka's car
Offering for Eka’s car

Offering for Eka's bike
Offering for Eka’s bike

Eka family
Eka family

Eka's mum temple village
Eka’s mum temple village.

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 prayers


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 😉 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 🙂

Of course it is only a quick overview of what is Galungan, but it gives you an idea
Now waiting for Kuningan 😉

Sources: « Ma vie balinaise » – « Sur le chemin des offrandes Ă  Bali »

For more pics, click here

Rainy season started in Bali and I decided to continue my blog :-)

Version française, cliquez ici

Ma vie balinaise
Illustration from « Ma vie Balinaise » – Edith Baudrand assisted by Wayan Leppo

After few months of silence, I thought that today was a good day to write back on my blog 🙂

Rainy season started in Bali and I’m off today.

I couldn’t or I didn’t 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. I’ve written everything down and I still have tons of photos to post!

But today, I’ll be writing about the rainy season in Bali.

It will be my first rainy season but not the last one 🙂

It’s
how to say that? Again one of this thing that life makes me discover


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, it’s raining
 a lot! It’s a big change comparing to the desert in Egypt where we were waiting the rain sometimes for ages
all the year
sometimes it was coming,  sometimes not at all


But here, it’s 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 evening
with storm, thunder, clouds and the sun who appears and disappears behind them 🙂

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: don’t 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 it’s raining you can be stuck at home or somewhere else
  • Always have food at home because when it’s raining you don’t want to go out to eat but I guess and hope you get used to it, to go out even with the rain 😛
  • Enjoy the sound of rain and storm
  • Do not be afraid of frogs because during rainy season it’s frogs party in Bali 😀

I’ll give more tips later because rainy season just started !

Just in case, for those who might not know yet, I’m living in Bali now 😀

Feel free to come and visit me whenever you want, except maybe during rainy season 😉