To an outsider it may seem that Balinese life is just like one big holiday. “Life’s a beach (literally, I suppose, in the likes of Kuta, Sanur and the like) for the Balinese – they seem to be forever enjoying themselves with ceremonies and celebration, and I always see people sitting idly on the roadside…” the tourists cry, half drooling with envy.
Even under the pressures of survival in the tourism-based economy, the Balinese are highly skilled in the art of cruising through life, preferring “adeng-adeng” (slowly, slowly) to rushing and forcing things to happen. Where they can, Balinese will avoid stressing themselves out with overwork in a constant attempt to accumulate wealth, as most of us do in the West. Since Balinese put religion and the community first before personal monetary gain, working 50-hour weeks as many of us do is less important. At the other end of the scale, people don’t take time off for pure r ‘n’ r as we know it.
The Balinese are simply too busy with their complex Çaka (Bali-Hindu) religious calendar to take time out for a designated ‘break away from it all’. Rarely a day goes by where my wife’s family is not preparing for some particular impending religious ritual. This is particular true for my grandmother who is a lay-priestess – every day is a flowing stream of prayers, rituals, ceremonies and anticipation of all of the above.
In fact, a deliberate, planned holiday break for sunbathing and spa treatments is as confounding to the average Balinese as the constant stream of offerings, devotion and ceremonies is to the average visitor to the island. This is not to say that family members don’t spend time with each other outside of their own community. Where do they go and what do they do? More sociological mysteries unravelled in the next issue of Kulture Kid…
