Full moon – temple festival in Ubud
Yesterday evening Ubud celebrated the full moon temple festival with a solemn procession. That was something special, although not so much: On the small green island there are about 20,000 temples in the public space, in the cities and villages, in caves, on rice fields — in addition, however, each family has also still their house temples, and if they have properties, even larger private temples. These temples are partly old, but they are not simply relics of old, pious times, but places of daily use. Embedded in everyday life, a few moments pass here, in which small gestures of worship, worship or an expression of respect for the gods are not visible in any way. Perhaps this basic attitude is also the reason for the friendly, respectful and attentive Balinese way. As already described, offerings can be found everywhere in small reed baskets, on sidewalks in front of shops, in front of restaurants, in taxis — but respect and attention go even further. Before the festivities the streets are decorated with banners and tufts, pennants and small colourful turrets, which again contain offerings; but also otherwise, also far away from places of colourful human activity and the shrines, this is further practiced: In the middle of the forest you can often find trees wrapped in coloured cloths. The reason for this is certainly the animism firmly anchored in Balinese Hinduism, i.e. the belief in a spiritual nature, the colours that are used here, but also have a meaning: While white stands for life, black for death, the black-and-white checked fabrics, which are usually wrapped around the trees and shrines here, stand for the balance of Yin and Yang, and thus for the sacred principle of life par excellence.
To the video: The procession is to be made throughout in ritual or festive robes; the men mostly in white (life) and yellow (nature), the women colorful and splendid. For days on end, the offerings, some of which pile up over the heads of the women, are prepared. These are fruit, satay skewers (chicken marinated), fruit and rice, but also common dishes, as we know it from the restaurants, and a lot of incense in the form of incense sticks. The men play on the classical Balinese percussion instruments in gangelang ensembles and lead the whole group with the dragon in the middle from one temple to another, where the celebration takes place, in the course of which and after the end of the worship, the celebrants (exceptionally) consume all the food themselves. The dragon is a symbol of the good that is to enter the hearts of people. Because here in Bali one believes in the good under the auspices of the triumvirate Brahma, the creator of all things and life, Vishnu, who makes sure that everything is preserved and Shiva, God of destruction and renewal at the same time, perhaps the most powerful and most revered God in the area. But there are so many other gods and half-gods that there is not enough space to list them. And so I will end the whole thing here, please forgive me for any mistakes in the presentation.
We have seen the procession when waiting for the very interesting PechaKucha event in Betelnut café to start. Organized by Hubud and Yogabarn the Japanese style presentation of 6 short personal or business stories was full of impressive elements and — like everything what happens within the Hubud community — gave us a wider perpective on how ideas that one follows with courage and commitment, can thrive. Thanks Hubud!