Saturday 13 April 2013

A Balinese Offering


Every day, the Balinese make offerings to the gods to appease them, to ward off bad spirits, to pay their respects and for good fortune. Balance and harmony are the key words for the Balinese Hindu's - every gesture no matter how small has an impact.
 
 
The offerings are collected into small square woven trays and placed in shrines, family temples, at crossroads or any other place sacred to an individual family.
 
 
As a result, the streets, shops, restaurants, beaches, taxi's, scooters, paths, walls, fields and trees of Bali abound in these offerings - canang sari.
 
 
The offerings can also include grains of rice, little biscuits, coins or other treats for the gods (we saw lollies, bread and even cigarettes!) The basket is topped with a burning incense stick.
 
 
 The women make the canang sari for all the members of their families every single day from flowers collected near their homes as well as those purchased in local markets (above).


We observed that many of the women placing the canang sari around the resorts and shops also dipped their fingers into a bowl of liquid and sprinkled the offerings with these drops after they had been put down.


 
Using flowers to create beautiful sculptures and designs was also important.
We loved being surprised by bowls of water filled with floating flowers.
 
 
 
Saturday Snapshot is a meme hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books.
The rules are simple:
 
To participate in the Saturday Snapshot meme post a photo that you (or a friend or family member) have taken and leave a direct link to your post in the Mister Linky. Photos can be old or new, and be of any subject as long as they are clean and appropriate for all eyes to see. How much detail you give in the caption is entirely up to you. Please don’t post random photos that you find online.  
 

14 comments:

  1. Such a beautiful post Brona, so many lovely photos. My favourite I think is the hibiscus on the statue. It looks such a wonderful holiday, I hope we get to see more of your photos.

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    1. You may be sorry you hoped that Louise over the next few weeks :-)

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  2. Thanks for sharing - lovely photos and learning about the tradition was great.

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  3. Beautiful pictures -- it is always interesting to see the practices and traditions in other cultures.

    Here is my SATURDAY SNAPSHOT post.

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  4. Wonderful shots! I like the idea of the offerings of gifts and flowers.

    Here's MY SATURDAY SNAPSHOT POST

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  5. What an awesome vacation. I'll never be able to go there, but it would be on my bucket list!

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  6. I think other culture's religious offerings and beliefs are so interesting. I see somewhat similar offerings in Hawaii all the time (they are offered to the gods fo good favor). I love that some traditions last through time. The bowls of flowers are beautiful, Book Savvy Babe

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  7. Thanks for sharing the beauty of Bali..the traditions and culture are fascinating! The flowers are gorgeous!

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  8. What a wonderful tradition, love the offerings photos.

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  9. A lovely tradition, and you captured it so well. I especially like the flowers floating in the bowls of water, and the little packets of offerings.

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  10. Those displays are beautiful!

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  11. How beautiful! But I can't imagine having to do that every single day -- they must have a system to make it meaningful rather than a chore. It's so interesting the way people embody their beliefs.

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  12. What a lovely tradition and you captured it all so well. Here's Mine

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  13. These are very beautiful. Thanks for sharing part of your visit with us.

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