Sunday, February 06, 2005
Temples, Shrines, Offerings and Prayer
Here are some pictures depicting Balinese religious life:
If we wore short pants on a hot day, we had to borrow sarongs to cover the lower, "unclean" parts. But for menstruating women, covering up is not enough!
A couple of temple interiors. Macaques often act as caretakers. The many platforms, or "bales", each have a separate function such as preparing food, prayer meetings, and a separate one for the "Gong" (Gamelan orchestra).
Prayer is either private and individual, or led by a priest. Blossoms are held aloft between the fingers of the clasped hands.
Below is a stunningly-decorated private family temple on the roof of some stores in Ubud.
A frequent sight in Ubud - the local Temple Committee prepares the offerings for a number of shops.
A close-up of a typical offering showing the bamboo tray filled with rice, flowers, plants and topped off with burning incense. And it must also be sprinkled with holy water.
Our hotel, like most commercial operations, had its own shrine, which was beside our balcony. This gentleman prepared the daily offerings for the shrine as well as those for the many other locations around the hotel.
And this is what happens to most of the offerings - they get accepted by the non-human community of friendly spirits! This particular shrine is in front of a small store just across from our hotel.
If we wore short pants on a hot day, we had to borrow sarongs to cover the lower, "unclean" parts. But for menstruating women, covering up is not enough!
A couple of temple interiors. Macaques often act as caretakers. The many platforms, or "bales", each have a separate function such as preparing food, prayer meetings, and a separate one for the "Gong" (Gamelan orchestra).
Prayer is either private and individual, or led by a priest. Blossoms are held aloft between the fingers of the clasped hands.
Below is a stunningly-decorated private family temple on the roof of some stores in Ubud.
A frequent sight in Ubud - the local Temple Committee prepares the offerings for a number of shops.
A close-up of a typical offering showing the bamboo tray filled with rice, flowers, plants and topped off with burning incense. And it must also be sprinkled with holy water.
Our hotel, like most commercial operations, had its own shrine, which was beside our balcony. This gentleman prepared the daily offerings for the shrine as well as those for the many other locations around the hotel.
And this is what happens to most of the offerings - they get accepted by the non-human community of friendly spirits! This particular shrine is in front of a small store just across from our hotel.
