Story of Bali, Indonesia

It is understood by all that if the decision is in error and fails to punish the guilty, the gods will do so. A guilty person is sanctioned, fined, or if convicted of a very serious offence, isolated from the community. The latter Punishment is indeed severe because it means that no one in the Community will talk.-with him/her (Puik), or help him/her to perform religious Ceremonies and the person so punished may not take part in the activities of the banjar. An awareness of these sanctions motivates the people to strive faithfully to execute all their banjar duties and follow the village rules which are clearly know to all.

At night the men's clubhouse became the social center. It was a long hut of bamboo and palm-thatch, with a raised floor of earth that had dried hard as a rock. Here the' gamelan that belonged to the music club of the younger men in the village, was kept. In the daytime you seldom passed without hearing from within the soft chime of gongs or metal keys as some child, slitting in the cool darkness of the empty hut, improvised and learnt for himself how to play. But after dark the hut was a luminous center surrounded by a blaze of little lamps.

Outside the saleswomen had set down their table-, of sweets and betel, while the members of the club gathered inside to practice. Now was the time to go through the music they already knew, for the sheer pleasure of it, or work over the difficult parts of some new composition they were just learning... Late into the community night they played. From the house I could hear them going over phrase after phrase correcting, improving, until the music began to flow of its own accord.

Today gamelan clubs practise often at many banjar while a few villagers sit around the edge chatting and watching. Banjar activities can draw large crowds and the atmosphere may resemble that around temples at times of festivals, especially in the evenings, when many food carts and stalls of food and other items surround the edges of the temple or line narrow, lantern-lit dirt streets filled with crowds taking breaks from an ongoing drama or dance performance.

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