Story of Bali, Indonesia

The architecture of the houses in Bayung Gede is unique: the roofs are steeply pitched and covered with split bamboo instead of grass or tile as in the plains. 'Me streets are also laid out differently, being oriented towards Mt. Batur. It is usual for Balinese Hindus to orient the house shrine (sawah) in die direction of Mt. Agung.In Bayung Gede, however, the house shrines are located at the back of the kitchen arid, oriented in the direction of Mt. Batur. Balinese Hindu house temples are, built of stone or wood; in Bayung Gede , the temples, of God are of a different form and are built, of woven bamboo and placed on, top of sticks in the ground that take root and leaf. Today these appear identical with those. in Bateson's photograph.

Bayung Gede has unique cemetery customs that are aboriginal like. At the cemetery there is a sacred temple that consists of a log stuck in the ground. 'Me villagers do not know its ancient origin. Four very large old trees stand guard by the entrance to this temple suggesting animistic influence. Because the temple is sacred, the authors were not allowed to follow the path leading from the big trees at the entrance but were guided through the jungle-like forest to a spot nearby where the log in its small clearing could be observed. Such monolithic religious objects are also characteristic of Balinese aboriginal villages.

Wikan ( 1988, 1989b) presented another view on the management or control of emotions along with detailed observations of grief reaction (bereavement) in a Balinese Muslim of north Bali which she believed was similar to the pattern of the Balinese Hindus. The Balinese women, especially young women, controlled the emotions of sadness by substituting a shiny face and a sparkling and gracious facade. They used conscious, willful effort to 'restructure the experience, even saw good in tragedy, and sought out situations of laughter and merriment. Wikan stated that they 'work on feelings to shape expression. She viewed this psychological process of thinking/feeling or feeling/mind (ngabe keneh) as a combined process, a merging of feeling and thought. She also regarded this, notion of managing feelings, especially anger, by conscious thought, to be motivated by a fear of sorcery' linked to notions of morality and health (i.e.. if one prays and observes rules of etiquette and propriety one will be protected from dangers of black magic which could produce illness).

Some emotions are expressed directly, intensely, and exuberantly in dance and by the accompanying gamelan musicians (Belo, 1970; McPhee, 1946). Belo'-s (1935) early observations and analyses of 'Balinese temper' provide vivid descriptions of emotional expressiveness.

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