Fire,
water, and flowers are the basic components
of all offerings; additional items are given
according to one’s profession and wealth,
and the season in which they’re made. No
matter what the offering, it must be of
the finest ingredients and ritually cleansed
before being placed. The variety is mind-boggling,
in countless designs and styles. Some offerings
may even be as simple as a few grains of
rice placed on a banana leaf. Once you know
what to look for, you begin to see offerings
everywhere-in rice fields, yards, trees,
and temples. Three-meter-long palm-leaf
panels and scrolls, a captivating cili figure
with fan-shaped headdress and long, graceful
arms. Spectacular, colorful Gebogan or Banten
tegeh are enormous towers of up to three
meters, embellished with glass, paintings,
roast ducks or chickens, suckling pigs,
pig entrails, garlands of white ‘Cempaka’,
and fragrant yellow Frangipany/plumeria
blossoms. They’re carried on the heads of
women to the temple, blessed by the Pemangku
(temple priest) and sprinkled with holy
water.
Gods and goddesses, who protect or threaten
every act performed by a person during his
or her lifetime, inhabit stone thrones and
statues or simply hover in the air. Gods
are often invited down to visit earth and
are gorged with offerings and entertained
with music and dance, but eventually they
must go back to heaven. The Balinese always
try to stay on the good side of all the
forces. If the spirits are kept happy, the
people can relax and even grow lighthearted.
Children carry flowers to shrines and learn
to dance at an early age to please the gods
and the people.
Feasts mark special periods in an infant’s
first year: three days after birth, 42 days
after the first bath, 105 days after birth,
and 210 days after birth-the first birthday
celebration. At each stage of the agricultural
cycle ceremonies are held, offerings made,
and holy texts chanted. Even cockfighting
was originally a temple ritual-blood spilled
for the gods.
Canang
Sari (Small Offering)
Offering
made of palm leaf, flowers and foodstuffs
are an art form associated with every ritual
occasion in Bali. The Balinese belief in
the forces of the invisible world dictates
that offerings be created with a spirit
of thankfulness and loving attention to
detail. The Balinese seem never to tire
of producing these colorful and highly symbolic,
ephemeral creations for every ritual, from
the simplest daily household offering to
the gods, demons, and ancestors to massive
ceremonies such as Panca Wali Krama held
at Pura Besakih to purify and bring blessings
upon the entire world.
Banten
Saiban
Banten
saiban or jotan is a daily offering that
is offered everyday after cooking or before
eating. It is very simple consisting of
a pinch of rice with other food like vegetable
or fish or meat, on a small piece of banana
leaf/other leaf. Due to its everyday usage
so it is grouped into “Nitya Yadnya”. Actually
what is offered; rice and its companion
food like vegetable and meat that are cooked;
that means pinch of rice is just the sample,
therefore Banten Saiban is also called “Yadnya
Sesa”, that means offering is a priority.
Banten Saiban is offered to:
1. God / Gods, it has a philosophy to thank
God for His blessing.
2. Ancestors before ‘Memukur’ ceremony are
done, with the aim to ask for their protection.
3. Panca Maha Bhuta for not disturbing us.
Gebogan
(a bigger offering)
Gebogan
are towering offerings constructed around
the base of a banana trunk. Prepared by
the woman of the house hold, they are presented
to the deities at temples birthdays. Typically,
the first layer is composed of fruits followed
by layers of rice cakes in many shapes and
colors.
Penjor
A Penjor is an offering in the form of a
tall, decorated bamboo pole whose gracefully
curving upper end is said to resemble both
the tail of the barong, symbol of the goodness,
and the peak of the sacred mountain, Mount
Agung. Penjor are placed in front of each
Balinese compound for the Galungan holiday
and an also used in conjunction with important
temple ceremony and life-cycle rituals.
Hanging from the end of every Penjor are
beautifully plaited palm leaf creations
called Sampian.
When people go to a temple ceremony, most
of them wearing their best traditional dress
and make they as beautiful as possible to
please the gods and each other. The Balinese
believe the human body represents the cosmos,
heavenly at the top, demonic at the bottom,
with humanity in between. Their temple wardrobe
and the materials they are made of reflect
this belief.
Bija
“BIJA”:
Putting Bija (wet rice grain) on the forehead
means.
1. God has blessed us Bhakta Anugrah Sri
that is welfare in the form of life seeds
through their realization of Bhoga (food).
In this case bija comes from the word “Wija”
means “seed”, rice grain (life).
2. God has blessed Bhakta Anugrah Widya,
intelligence, wisdom, brilliance, god’s
holly light, therefore enable human to choose
something good and bad (wiweka). In this
definition bija comes from “Wijaksana” that
is the sacred holly letter “Om”. Bija is
made from white/yellow raw rice grains,
flower fragrant water (kumkuman); it can
also be added with sandal wood extract water.
