Death in Bali

The rituals around death in Bali are elaborate and colorful.  Death is not a private tragedy that affects only immediate family and friends.  The entire community gathers together when one of its members dies.

Dewa's grandmother-in-law died recently.  (For simplicity, I'll refer to her as "Nenek", which means grandmother in Bahasa Indonesian.)   Nenek was laid out in the special bale (wall-less open air structure) in the family compound dedicated for lifecycle rituals.  She was surrounded by a crush of family members, relatives and friends who helped prepare the body and cover it with flowers and other items with ritual significance.  (An image of these preparations appears later in this post; it may be disturbing to some.)

The entire banjar (neighborhood district) visited to pay respects to Nenek's family brought traditional gifts of food.  Those who don't attend risk fines and being ostracized by the rest of the banjar.

The banjar of Dewa's father-in-law consists of about 75 families.  The head of the banjar prepared a list of all the male head of households, dividing them into three groups of 25 men each.  For three consecutive nights, each group of twenty-five families visited the family compound with the men staying into the wee hours of the morning drinking, chatting and gambling.  As Dewa explains, death is a mixture of sadness and happiness, so it is not disrespectful to relax and enjoy oneself.

The family of the deceased is required to stay up all night, serving food and drink to all who visit and then cleaning up after everyone leaves.  Dewa had only one hour of sleep each of those three nights.  He waved off our concerns about his ability to drive us on so little sleep, explaining that as a Balinese he was used to it.  While I would have been a complete wreck with so little sleep, amazingly Dewa was able to safely drive us through the crazy Ubud traffic in his sleep-deprived condition.

Dewa and his wife and children live at his father-in-law's family compound during the week.  Dewa is not formally part of his father-in-law's household and maintains a small house about 30 minutes away that he tries to stay in at least once a week.

In Bali, a wife is supposed to live with the husband's family, not the other way around.  It is seen as unmanly for a husband to live with his wife's family.  Dewa's arrangement of living with his father-in-law is atypical and he seems a little embarrassed about it.

Dewa has been formally invited to join his father-in-law's family, but has declined.  He explained that it would mean turning his back on his ancestors as if he formally joined his wife's family he would then pray at her family temple to her ancestors rather than to his own.  To do that would make his dead father very angry.

Yet Dewa accepts that since he lives mostly with his father-in-law's family he is expected to help with their ceremonies.   He is the only man of his generation in the compound, so many of the ceremonial duties that are performed by men fall to him.

To make the offerings for Nenek's death, Dewa had to kill dozens of ducks, cook them, cut up their meat, and prepare hundreds of duck satays.  These satays were prepared weeks in advance of the cremation ceremony and placed in a large refrigerator.  They would not be eaten, as they would be spoilt by the time they were needed for the ceremony.

A full-blown cremation ceremony is very expensive for the Balinese, costing many thousands of dollars.  Most Balinese do not have this much money.  Instead, many Balinese opt for communal ceremonies where the ceremony is performed for several deceased people at one time, and the cost shared between the families of the deceased.

It is an unbreakable obligation for a deceased's family members to provide the deceased with the proper ceremonies after death including a cremation.  Otherwise the cycle of reincarnation will be broken and the deceased's spirit will stay on earth as a ghost haunting its family.

preparing Nenek's body (still from video taken by Dewa)

The deceased's family, however, has up to five years after the death to perform the cremation ceremony.  Many families bury their dead in the graveyard, waiting for time of the communal cremation ceremony to arrive.  Then the dead are exhumed so that they can be honored in the mass cremation ceremony and be properly cremated.

Dewa's father-in-law is a successful businessman.  He had the good fortunate to have family landholdings near the center of Ubud.  For many generations the land was merely rice fields in a typical Balinese village.  But then Ubud was discovered by tourists.  Now he owns prime property in the heart of Ubud on which he has built small hotels and shops.

Dewa's father-in-law can afford an impressive private cremation ceremony.  He wanted to send his mother off in style.  But the banjar's mass cremation ceremony was taking place less than a month after his mother's death.   The head of the banjar told him he should not hold his own ceremony, but should include his mother in the joint cremation ceremony, so he had to comply.

The father-in-law felt very badly about this.  His mother-in-law had also passed away recently and he had paid for an extravagant cremation ceremony for her.  Now his own mother had passed away, and her cremation ceremony, just one part of a larger joint ceremony, would not be nearly as impressive.  He was concerned it gave the impression that he cared more for his mother-in-law than for his own mother.

The timing of the joint cremation ceremony was also awkward.  Normally a cremation ceremony is either held soon after a death with the body lying in wait until the cremation, or the cremation ceremony is far in the future and the body is buried and then exhumed much later when the cremation ceremony is held.  The joint cremation ceremony coming a few weeks after Nenek's death meant it was too long to wait to leave her body above ground but too short a period to bury and then exhume her.

Dewa's father-in-law's solution was to arrange for a mobile cremation service to cremate her body in the neighborhood cemetery with a minimum of ceremony.  A physical body is not required for the elaborate cremation ceremony that would happen later.  What is important is that the deceased's spirit be present.

If there is no body, for instance if someone is lost at sea, then grass from the closest land is used in lieu of the body.  The grasses will be burt and their ashes used in the cremation ceremony.

After Nenek's cremation, the banjar formed a procession to carry her ashes to the Campuan river, the powerful river that flows along the outskirts of Ubud.  Her ashes were scattered in the river.

Later, shortly before the cremation ceremony, the banjar returned to the Campuan river with a priest to recall Nenek's spirit with elaborate offerings and prayers.  Her spirit returned to reside in a small sandalwood figurine, carved into a traditional female form, and clothed in ceremonial dress.

Once the spirit returns to the figurine, the figurine is called the "spirit of the dead" and treated with the same respect and care as if it were the actual body of Nenek.  It is this figurine that will be cremated, in place of her actual body, during the cremation ceremony.

The joint cremation ceremony included six other deceased from the extended family of Dewa's father-in-law, along with one other non-relative from the village.  The cemetery is shared with a couple of adjacent banjars.  The cremation is held on a special day that is deemed auspicious for human life-cycle ceremonies.  These other banjars also brought their dead, so the cremation ceremony was held for over a dozen deceased from the various banjars.

On the day of the cremation ceremony, the entire banjar formed a procession to the cemetery, complete with bands of musicians hired for the occasion.  The spirit of the dead is placed at the top of a tall ornately decorated tower.  A large animal effigy is also carried as part of the procession.  Both the tower and the animal effigy have as their base a large bamboo frame, which allows them to be carried by a group of men.

Dewa and his wife are both from the warrior and ruling caste, the second of the four castes of Bali.  The animal for the second caste that carries the spirit of the dead to heaven is a black bull.  If the deceased is a priest or studying for the priesthood, the effigy will be of a white bull.  (The first cremation ceremony we watched was for the high priest of the same banjar and his effigy was a white bull.)  The lowest caste, to which 90% of Balinese belong, often uses a red dragon for its effigy.

The morning of the cremation ceremony, Lynn and I and the girls dressed in our Balinese ceremonial clothes.  Dewa's brother, who is also a driver and who fills in when Dewa is unavailable, drove us to the cemetery.

We met Dewa and his family at the temple that adjoins the cemetery.  Dewa was again exhausted from lack of sleep, as he had had to spend the last couple of nights without a bed at the temple and had not been able to sleep.  A temporary bamboo structure had been created to house the offerings for each of the deceased family members from Dewa's father-in-law's extended family.

Dewa's grandmother-in-law had been part of the household staff of the King of Gianyar, the regency in which Ubud is located.  The current royal family came to visit and to pay their respects.  The royal family retains a large degree of influence through the traditional power hierarchy and their extensive land holdings, and many of the royal family are also elected or appointed to leadership positions in the regional government.

The black bulls for Dewa's father-in-laws banjar were already at the temple when we arrived.  Then came the processions from the neighboring banjars.  One procession passed along the main street of Ubud carrying a large black bull.  Other processions arrived from the opposite direction up a side street, one carrying a large red dragon, another a large white bull.

All the effigies were then carried to the cemetery.  They were placed under bamboo canopies draped in white and gold fabric.  The spirits of the dead were removed from the top of the ceremonial towers and carried over to the animal effigies.  The top of the effigy was removed, and the spirit of the dead placed inside.

Priests said prayers in the background.  The musicians kept up a cacophonous roar of urgent, pulsing music.  Hundreds of Balinese and many tourists milled about.

At this point we left, once again not staying for the fiery conclusion.

Dewa was glad we had come.  We were glad to have been invited to join in the ceremony as welcome guests.  We were also glad to have the opportunity to see and pay our respects to our friend Sakming, one of the wonderful staff members from Sanctuary house.  Nenek was Sakming's grandmother. 

The cremation ceremony was not the end of the required ritual observances.  The most arduous part was still to come.  The ashes of the dead were once again collected.  The whole banjar formed a procession of cars, buses and minivans and drove to a particular temple by the sea.  The family has to visit all of the significant temples for the family, and say prayers on behalf of the deceased.  Dewa drove far into the night with his wife and daughter and other relatives, with the rear of his car filled with offerings prepared weeks earlier that filled his car with the smells of putrid meat.

They drove first to the bat cave temple by the sea, then to the temple in the family's ancestral home village in the east, then to numerous shrines located within Besakih temple, the "mother temple" perched on the slopes of Mount Agung, then to several other significant temples, and then at last back to the family compound where the spirit of the grandmother-in-law would take residence in the shrine dedicated to the family's ancestors located in the family temple within the compound of Dewa's father-in-law.

After weeks of non-stop labor and many sleepless nights, after having fulfilled all the obligations to the deceased and having freed her spirit to be reincarnated, the family of the deceased can return to normal life.  Their grief has been converted into work and ritual.  Their sadness expressed through having fulfilled their duty and by the arduous rituals they have performed.

One more task remained, however.  Dewa's father-in-law decided to hold a large ceremony at his family temple that is part of his family compound in Ubud.  Dewa explained that it is a ceremony to placate the bad spirits, to keep everything in balance, and to create a good environment in the family temple, especially now that the spirit of Nenek resided within it.  The last time such a ceremony had been held was in 1987, so now 25 years later the time was right to hold it again.

The family temple ceremony can be on a modest, medium, or grand scale.  For a modest ceremony, the special sacrifice is a five-colored chicken.  For the grand ceremony, a cow is sacrificed.  Dewa's father-in-law chose an intermediate ceremony which requires the location and sacrifice of a puppy with a two-toned face.

the puppy with the two-toned face (photo by Dewa)

Dewa's father-in-law has managed to locate the puppy and is keeping it at his family compound until the temple ceremony.  Dewa's children recently lost their cherished pet puppy and have developed an immediate fondness for the new puppy.  Dewa wishes the puppy hadn't been brought to the family compound as it is distressing his children to know the puppy is slated to be sacrificed.

We just visited the family compound last night.  We had a chance to see the puppy for ourselves. It is a very sweet and affectionate puppy, sitting in its cage, happy for any human attention, unaware of its impending death.

It is heart-wrenching to see the puppy and to know its fate.  To my mind, the decision to sacrifice this puppy to appease evil spirits represents the worst of a superstitious, highly ritualistic, animist culture.  I wish to object on moral grounds, but as a meat eater who is comfortable with the sacrifice of pigs, goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, and cows for human benefit, my being upset about the sacrifice of a puppy is probably arbitrary at best and hypocritical at worst.

Cremation ceremony photos

Dewa and his son, with the black bull effigies for the deceased

vendor offering sarongs to tourists

the booth devoted to the offerings for Dewa's grandmother-in-law with her photo displayed

the royal family visits

the temporary structure that housed the offerings for each of the deceased

Dewa with his wife Raka

exhumed graves at the cemetery

offerings for the dead - each of the deceased had their own bin, each was filled with similar offerings

street vendors kept the crowd fed

offerings that have served their purpose and are no longer needed are piled up and burned

the priest says prayers in the area reserved for Dewa's father-in-law's family

Lynn and the girls watched the procession from the street.  I was at the cemetery overlooking the street below.

the men carrying the tower and the bull lift them up and down, twisting and turning them

                                                           video of procession down the main street in Ubud

the effigies are carried to the cemetery

the top of the bull is opened up and removed to be ready to receive the spirit of the dead

onlookers

spinning the bull in circles

another banjar arrives, bringing a red dragon

the white bull arrives

one of the dead was a young man who was the chief nurse at a nearby clinic

the symbol of the dead is removed from the tower

...and carried toward the waiting effigies

the white bull is placed in position under the canopy

Slideshow