Festivals of Bali

Festivals are another great occasion for appeasing the gods. The women bear huge, beautifully arranged, pyramids of food, fruit and flowers on their heads while the men might conduct a blood sacrifice through a cockfight. There are traditional dances and music and the gods are invited to come down to join in the festivities. The festivals are usually very exciting occasions and, if you are in the are, well worth observing. Please refer to the back page (‘A Word of Advice’) for Rules.Info Bali - Bali Art and CultureArtistically, Bali is a melting pot of cultures and traditions. The Balinese have a natural capacity for absorbing different cultural elements and blend them with their own, to produce dynamic new hybrids. Over the years, Bali has been the recipient of numerous influences; Chinese, Buddhist, Indian, Hindu, Javanese, and most recently, Western. For centuries, artists and craftsmen in Bali worked under the patronage of the priests and ruling classes, decorating palaces and temples. The artists themselves never signed their work and usually lived close together in artists' 'villages'.Generally the artists did not have much room for personal expression, as their designs followed strict aesthetic and religious guidelines. With the arrival of European artists at the start of this century, this soon began to change, and local artists started developing their own individual styles.PaintingUntil the start of this century, the dominant form of painting was the portrayal of Hindu epics by painters and illustrators called ‘Sangging’. Aside from large representational paintings, the ‘Sangging’ were also expected to decorate everything from gourds, wooden altars, bamboo vessels, headboards for princely bed chambers and in particular to illustrate astrological wall hangings on bark paper or cloth.It wasn’t until the early 1900s that Western influence reached Bali. The use of Asian symbols in the works of, amongst others, Paul Gauguin, Toulouse Lautrec and Camille Pissaro, created a new trend for Asian-influenced art and European painters began to move to Bali. Ubud’s fame for art can be traced to the arrival of German painter Walter Spies and Dutch painter Rudolf Bonnet.There now exists a wide range of different styles, some of which are: Ubud, Batuan, Keliki, Pengosekan and Young Artists (many of these Young Artists are, in reality, now over 70 years old).Ubud StyleInfluenced by the Western use of perspective and everyday-life subject matter, the Ubud style is one of the most ‘Expressionist’ of all the Balinese schools. Despite this, Ubud art still retains many traditional features, including attention to detail and very stylized characters.Batuan StyleStrongly Wayang based, this style involves hundreds of intricately painted representations of Balinese life, filling every available nook and cranny of the canvas.Keliki StyleKeliki art is very similar to the Old Batuan Style with the one exception being size; Keliki paintings measure 20cm by 15cm. They contain scenes of mythical and Ramayanic characters engaged in battle, good versus evil, on sinister backgrounds.Pengosekan StyleFrom this village, on the outskirts of Ubud, a new style sprang up during the 60’s that concentrated on just a few natural components like birds, insects, butterflies and plants.Stone CarvingStone carvings were mainly used to decorate temples and palaces. There is little difference between the iconography decorating temples and that of private buildings. Gateways represent the dividing line between the inner and outer worlds and as such are the recipients of some of the most fantastic carvings. Bali’s modern-day centre of stone carving is the village of Batubulan, situated halfway between the towns of Denpasar and Ubud.Wood CarvingWood carving, like stone carving, has traditionally been featured largely in temple and palace architecture. Immaculately carved demons and mythical beings decorate pillars, door panels, lintels and window shutters with the aim of protecting the buildings from evil intruders. Scenes of legendary figures placed within floral decor set a more pleasant and educational tone.With the arrival of European influences, wood carving started to develop along more innovative and commercial lines. These days whole villages specialize in producing certain styles of work. The village of Mas, near Ubud, is probably the best known for its carvings of female figures, Buddhas, characters from Hindu epics and the traditional Topeng and Wayang Wong masks.TextileOne of the most striking things about Bali is the rich variety of cloths and materials that are to be seen in thousands of shops throughout the island. However, only a small proportion of these are indigenous to Bali. The myriad of batik clothes and sarongs available everywhere are mainly imported from Java. Bali does, however, have a very rich textile industry of its own. The beautiful Songket fabrics worn by performers of traditional dance are a good example. In Songket, gold and silver threads are woven into the cloth to create complex motifs of birds, butterflies and flowers.Endek, or weft ikat, is another common method used in Bali. In weft ikat weaving, the weft threads are dyed to create the design and then woven with plain warp threads. The least common form of weaving to be seen in Bali is the Geringsing, or double-ikat, and it is perhaps the most sought after. This is when both the warp and weft threads are dyed to their final designs before being woven together. With the exception of certain areas in India and Japan, this weaving technique can only be found in the small Bali Aga village of Tenganan in East Bali.Dance & DramaDance and drama have historically played an important role in Balinese society. Through this medium, people learned about the tales of the Ramayana, Mahabarata and other epic stories from Balinese history. The following are brief descriptions of some of the more well-known dance-dramas that can be seen at regular performances, throughout Bali.BarisThis is a warrior’s dance. It is usually performed by men, either solo or in a group of five or more.Barong & RangdaThis is basically a story about the struggle between good and evil. Good is personified by the Barong Keket, a strange and fun-loving creature in the shape of a shaggy semi-lion. Evil is represented by Rangda, a witch.KecakThe most famous of the Balinese dances, the Kecak, originated from the Sanghyang dance choirs, who chant a distinctive ‘kechak-kechak’ accompaniment. The Kecak as a dance developed in the 1930’s in the village of Bona, where it is still performed regularly.LegongThis dance tells the story of Princess Rangkesari who is held captive against her will by King Lakesmi. Rangkesari’s brother, Prince Daha, gathers an army together to rescue his sister. The Legong is a very classical and graceful dance, always performed by prepubescent girls, who often are as young as eight or nine years old.Sanghyang Trance DancesThe Sanghyang Dedari is performed by two girls and is very similar in style to the Legong. The main difference is that the girls are supposedly untrained and can keep in perfect time with each other, even though their eyes are firmly shut. In the Sanghyang Jaran, a boy dances around and through a fire, riding a coconut palm hobbyhorse. This is frequently called the ‘Fire Dance’. In both dances, a priest is always on hand to help bring the dancers out of their state of trance at the end of the performance.Wayang Kulit (Shadow Puppet)Wayang Kulit is one of the great story-telling traditions of the Javanese and Balinese. The Wayang show normally consists of a small 4-piece orchestra, which provides the musical accompaniment, around 60 ‘puppets’ carved out of flat pieces of water buffalo hide and the Dalang, or Puppet-master. Good characters normally speak in ancient ‘Kawi’ whereas evil or coarse characters speak Balinese.