Story of Bali, Indonesia

There are ceremonies for acquiring a car or motor cycle and several for building a house both at beginning and on completion. In order to commence building Jensen's house in Bali the authors consulted the high priest of the area to decide on a propitious date and time. When they arrived at his home, he was sitting on the floor of his pavilion making a wood carking for a temple. He explained that gets inspiration for the design of the carving while meditating in this way each piece he makes is an original creation though it follows traditional forms. He consulted the Balinese calendar and the Lontar his old palm leaf books which contain information about religion. Then he said that proposed site which is by the sea, is close to an area well known to harbour powerful evil spirits so it would be necessary to make proper offerings in order to establish good relationships with these spirits so that they will not harm the house or its occupants, but instead will provide protection. On the appointed day and time, the authors picked up the high priest at his house, along with his two assistants, many baskets of offerings, and a bamboo shrine that he had made.

Seven o'clock in the morning was the appointed time for the ceremony but it took an hour after that to assemble the people to help dig the hole in which offerings were to be placed and to erect the shrine. The priest conducted his ceremony with the appropriate prayers, bell ringing , and chants calling for evil spirits, and placed hundreds of offering into the shallow pit to be covered with dirt by Jensen and the contractor. The offerings included many kinds of rice cakes , different fruit a full roasted chicken with head and legs intact as well as special freshly made palm leaf decorations. Finally the shrine for the gods was erected and offerings were made to them. By the time the ceremony was finished, the sun had risen further in the sky to make the day quite hot but the priest was very tolerant of the delays and time required. The authors experienced a feeling of peace following the ceremony. Each day during the construction of the house the workers would placed an offerings on the shrine to ensure continued good relations with the spirits and protection of the house.

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