Balinese Holidays

The Balinese will celebrate their major holidays in Bali called Galungan and Kuningan every six months. Ceremonies will be held in every rural pathways and roads around Bali. Masses will fill in every temples, bringing foods, fruits and cakes as offering. Traditional music will be played and resonated through out regions. During Galungan and Kuningan Days, Penjors are placed in every places, such as temples, roads and public area. Those are actually a symbol of thankful to God for His blessing to human and nature in the universe. This could be very interesting things to see for tourist. The celebrations show a unique culture of Balinese which still exist in this modern world.

Galungan Day
Galungan day actually is a victory day in celebrating good over evil, or in Balinese, Dharma upon Adharma. It is a celebration of a winning against Mayadewana, the rebelling king Who claimed himself as the strongest god in universe. His power were horrible and he forced people to worship him as God otherwise people would receive harmful punishment from him. A big army contingent from Java helped Balinese to fight against Mayadewana. This fight was held at Tampak Siring, now recognized as presidential palace. His power was unbeatable, that is why god Indra gave his help to end the existence of this king. An arrow was shooted by Indra to kill Mayadewana who turn of himself as a pig and hiding in the forest to fool the army. This is now symbolized with erect bamboo poles as good over evil.

Kuningan Day
Kuningan day is celebrated every 210 days based on a cycle named one Otonan year. This festival will be held on 7 July at Sakenan Temple on Serangan Island. This temple was built by Mpu Kuturan at the end of first millennium. The anniversary of this temple falls on Kuningan day. Sakenan is also known as a home of Dewi Sri, goddess of Rice and prosperity, where here people worship her to keep their rice and business always prospered. It is also become a day for Balinese associations [Banjar] to have their annual meetings discussing the activities in their villages.