6:40 am
I peer over the edge of my hotel balcony in UBUD and at this hour of the morning there is one young employee walking across the grass. He is carrying a flower and approaches the statue of Ganesha in the middle of the lawn. He puts it over the left ear of Ganesha. Like most Ganesha statues in Bali, this one is wearing a yellow and white sarong (you can buy special sarongs for statues). This statue of the elephant/man god also has a very bright red umbrella with long tassles to protect him from the rain and the sun. In the grass at the base of the statue are a number of 3"x3" offering baskets. Offering baskets are made from coconut leaves and in side are several layers of petals and moss. There is a specific meaning for each element. Balinese are very careful to tell me that the representations of God are not GOD; they are a vehicle for communicating with God, who is beyond understanding, beyond conceptualizing.
Yesterday we hired Made Aryana, a driver recommended by Cynthia Leslie-Bole (THANKS, Cynthia!) and he took us to a community of "ethnic" Balinese. They live in a very large compound and everything is shared. They do not intermarry with other Balinese. The good side is that they have some original crafts and celebrations and beliefs; the bad side is the inevitable genetic defects from too much intermarrying.
Made Aryana explained that there are three areas that must be attended to equally and regularly:
Relationship with God, Relationship amongst humans, and relationship with Nature. Every six months, therefore, farmers do a celebration to honor the plants that they grow and that feed them.
No comments:
Post a Comment