Feb 4 – A Balinese Family Compound, a Temple and a Dance School

Today Paul went on a tour to a typical family compound, a village temple, and a dance school.  Mary stayed on the ship as she was not feeling well.

The guide explained about the traditional outfits that people wear:  If the top is white, the person is going to the temple.  If black, to a funeral.  If gold, to a wedding, if mixed, then everyday wear.

Our first stop was a typical family compound of a below average in monetary wealth family.

The plaque gives the mailing address, the head of the family’s name, and how many males (2), females (5), and total (7) people who live here.  A male child will inherit the compound, along with the duty of caring for the parents.  When a male moves out, they will try to establish a compound, but may not be able to if they move to a city for a job (not enough land), or may not have enough money.

The family are farmers, but also do part time other work, including some silver smithing.

Compounds all have the same orientation for the buildings.

This is the entrance gate to the compound.  

An Offering

Northeast is the temple area.  North since the highest mountain in Bali is in the north, and that is the closet to heaven.  East for the sunrise symbolizing a new beginning.  There are three shrines with niches, where some of the ashes after cremation are put, to help protect the family and bring good luck.  This is the head, or sacred area.

The medium area, or body, has the living quarters.  North building is for the Grandparents, also the family heirlooms are stored here. 

West for the parents and guests,

south for the children. 

One of the family pets

There is an open ceremonial building used for meetings, to lay the body until cremation, and napping in the afternoon when it is hot, since the building is open and can get a breeze.

The lower area, Southwest, for the kitchen.  The kitchen utilizes a wood stove.

On the east side of the compound is a granary where rice is stored.  

And a garage (for motorcycles) and workshop.

Silversmithing

There was also a family temple in the compound.

They had a nice yard, with lots of fruit trees – the big fruit is pummelos.  They also had banana, mango, orange, and coconut, among others.

We then visited a village temple. 

We were lucky to see the temple with decorations - Festival decorations on the temple are only for festivals and are not there otherwise. 

The Barong masks in the temple keep bad spirits away.  Each building in the temple has specific function – offerings, display relics, etc.

We drove past a funeral procession.  The tower is used to transport the body to the cemetery for cremation.  The tower represents the Hindu universe.  The tower is burned along with the body.

Lunch was at the Dirty Duck Restaurant, so named because the site it was built on had a pond with ducks that looked dirty.  Very good food.  

And a nice garden,...

including rice paddies.

After lunch we visited the Sudi Dance School.  

The students start at 5 years old and can attend for 12 years or longer.  The girls wore very colorful costumes and lots of makeup.

The boys seemed wore much simpler costumes...

except for one.

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Video 1 of a Sudi Dance School performance
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Video 2 of a Sudi Dance School performance
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Video 3 of a Sudi Dance School performance
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Some scenes from driving around Bali.