Story of Bali, Indonesia

The careful attention the Balinese give to how high a person sits or stands in relation to a person of different status, the significance of the highest point of the body (the top of the head), and its placement in relationship to the environment when one sleeps (e.g., towards the s red mountain or kaja), the number of steps of the cremation tower, etc., are all aspects of custom and related to hierarchical orientation. Bateson and Mead referred to these under the concept of elevation and respect. Even the type of wood used in construction of shrines, houses, and service buildings -is selected according to the Balinese belief in high, medium and lower woods (i.e., jack wood, teak, and all other types of wood respectively).

Co-operation-devotion (B: ngayah/nguopin; 1: gotong royong) is a striking aspect of many activities and jobs but nowhere more evident than in the clubs (seka) (see Chapter 2), the irrigation systems (subak), ceremonials of the families, and at the banjar.28 For example, a dadia (extended family or clan) may have periodic ceremonies, some of which involve dozens of the related extended families, numbering hundreds in all.

Preparations which-involve the construction of special temporary structures for preparing food and offerings, for presenting the offerings, and for eating and sleeping take weeks to complete. 1he ceremony itself can last several days. All the people are provided with food daily. In preparation each day, they work for hours, synchronized and sociable, doing their allotted jobs. It is a symphony of motion. Over a hundred guests may attend the ceremony. Such an undertaking is highly complex and requires utmost co-operation, with each person doing his/her part in keeping with tradition and custom. The schedule of events has been worked out carefully in advance but is somewhat flexible because it follows 'Balinese time': an hour or two, More or less, when it all comes together and happens.

As a personal illustration, of typical co-operation, one day while motoring in the country the car came to a rolling halt with steam pouring out of the hood. A few minutes after opening the hood, the authors were surrounded by about five men assembling from a stopped truck, a little store, and a house near by, and several curious children who proceeded to work together quickly and efficiently to obtain water, fix the radiator, and get the car running again-with pleasant smiles and refusal of money.

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