The Indigenous People of Bali

The Indigenous People of Bali

The Balinese World View

References

Language

To the Balinese, "everything has its place, and that spatial orientation is crucial for every kind of activity.” In Balinese belief, anything below/south carries negative connotations or evil. This also carries over into their belief of the spirit world in which anything above/north is good.

The Balinese have a strong belief in the afterlife and divide their cosmos into three worlds. The released spirits of their ancestors, along with the gods, reside in the upper world, called swah, while living humans reside in the middle world- bwah. The lower world, where the demons reside, is called bhur.

The believed in reincarnation and that their children had their ancestor's spirit. (anthro4n6.net)

There are certain rituals needed to be done in order to release someone's spirit: the most important being cremation of the body.

The Balinese language- in contrast to Western languages- is very unusual sounding, such as having words that start with ng, which many Westerners find hard to pronounce.

Some other characteristics...

Some Phrases

-filing and blackening their teeth

-buried the dead or abandoned them in the jungle to be carried away by the spirits; possible that they ate parts of the bodies

-blood sacrifice from ritual duels

-trance dances

What are their distinguishing characteristics?

"Bali facing environmental problems from rapid tourism." One India News. 14 January 2011. Greynium Information Technologies. 27 September 2013. <http://news.oneindia.in/2011/01/14/balifacing-environmental-problems-from-rapidtourism-aid0126.html>.

"Balinese Beliefs and Rituals Rites of Passage." The Balinese. 28 September 2013. <http://www.anthro4n6.net/bali/beliefs.html>.

"Bali." Wonderful Indonesia. 2013. Ministry of Tourism and Creative Economy, Republic of Indonesia. 30 September 2013. <http://www.indonesia.travel/en/discover-indonesia/region-detail/35/>.

Brown, Amanda. "Balinese Words for Tourists & Traveler's to Learn." Big World Adventure. 2011-2013. Amanda Brown & AWE International Good Works Foundation LLC. 1 October 2013. <http://amandasbigworldadventure.com/balinese-words-tourist-travelers-learn/>.

McKean, Philip F. "Tourists and Balinese." Cultural Survival. 9 February 2010. Cultural Survival. 28 September 2013. <http://www.culturalsurvival.org/publications/cultural-survival-quarterly/indonesia/tourists-and-balinese>.

"Origins, People of Bali." skwirk. 2013. Red Apple Education Ltd. 27 September 2013. <http://www.skwirk.com.au/p-c_s-1_u-46_t-33_c-89/origins/nsw/hsie/study-of-a-cultural-group-bali/people-of-bali>.

Good morning: Selamad pagi Yes: Patut

Good afternoon: Selamad siang No: Nenten, tan

Good evening: Selamad malam Excuse me: Permissi

Thank you: Terima kasih

Where are you from?: Uli dija?

What’s your name?: Sira wastan jeronê?

Where are you going?: Mau kemana

The Balinese are an extremely community oriented society, in fact, if a person turns down an invitation to an event over three times, the community will take action against them. Life in Bali is never alone; the children can be observed demonstrating this too. When their parents go to work, the children will play with other children of their age groups- older children will look over the younger children. A unique characteristic of the Balinese is the way of naming children. [sic] “In Bali, all first child is named Wayan, second child is Made, the third child is Nyoman, and the fourth, or the last, is Ketut.” (indo.com) If another child is born, the cycle restarts back to Wayan and so on, but the society discourages more than four children.

What is the importance of land to the Indigenous group?

A village in Bali is called a desha, which normally means country. Each desha has three temples, one each for Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. The Brahma temple is placed near the village center, Vishnu's near the farms and Siva's near the cremation grounds. All land belongs to the village, not to any individual. "All have to come and serve the temple," he elucidated. "If you do not follow the code of the village, you will have to leave. But you cannot sell your home, as it belongs to the village." (hinduismtoday.com)

The Balinese World View

What is one issue that they face as an Indigenous group?

- Before cremation can occur, the body must be prepared for burial. Special prayers and offerings are made to the spirits and deities in swah. The corpse is then buried for a period of time.

- The family will build a cremation tower, prepare elaborate offerings, and sponsor a shadow puppet play or masked dance.

- The cremation tower is twirled so as to confuse the spirit of the deceased. This is to help ensure their spirit’s smooth passage into the next world (swah).

One of the issues the Balinese people face is the degradation of Bali due to the massive amounts of tourists who visit the island every year. Bali has also lost half of its water resources, as 200 out of 400 rivers on the island have dried up…the southern part of Bali would face a water shortage by 2015 due to aggressive groundwater use. The area would experience a shortfall up to 2,500 liters of clean water per second by 2015… (jakartapost.com) This is caused by massive development for tourism in Southern Bali.

Bali, Indonesia

Cremation Tower

References

How do they fit the UN definition of “Indigenous”?

Note: Should the ceremony or the offerings contain an omission, a family member or spirit-medium will become possessed and told how to make things right. Once the cremation is completed, the ashes of the deceased are gathered up and holy water is sprinkled; the ashes are then cast into the sea.

What is one issue that they face as an Indigenous group?

How do they fit the UN definition of “Indigenous”?

It is also thought that "the very first settlers to Bali emigrated from China in 2500 BC..." (indonesia.travel) There are a few theories as to where the first inhabitants came from, but all hypotheses remain unproven.

"World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples - Indonesia : Balinese and Hindus". 2008. Minority Rights Group International. 27 September 2013. <http://www.refworld.org/docid/49749d0f28.html>.

"People pf Bali." indo. 2001. indo.com. 27 September 2013. <http://www.indo.com/culture/people.html>.

"Bali Aga: The Original Balinese." indo. 2013. indo.com. 27 September 2013. <http://www.indo.com/featured_article/bali_aga.html>.

Malik, Rajiv. "Bali, Land of Offerings." Hinduism Today. 2012. Himalayan Academy. 27 September 2013. <http://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=5267>.

The Balinese not only face environmental damage, but cultural damage as well. Traditional ceremonies- as well as their music, drama and dance- have become amusing tourist spectacles; "the ceremonies performed for tourists have been "edited" from among the rich diversity of Balinese music, drama and dance, and have become boring to villagers." (culturalsurvival.org)

The Balinese are facing major desacralization for the benefit of the tourists.

Bali Province

It is thought that the people of Bali arrived in three waves: the first wave from Java and Kalimantan in prehistoric times, the second wave came from Java in the Hindu period, and the third wave which also came from Java in the fifteenth and sixteenth century. The migration started because the inhabitants from Java wanted to continue their way of life but couldn't since Muslims had such a strong influence over Java they had to leave, so they migrated to Bali. (skwirk.com)

United Nations Declaration of Indigenous Rights- they described Indigenous People as "original inhabitants of a land."

Kecak Dance at Uluwatu Temple

As the first settlers, they therefore claim the rights as the "original inhabitants of a land."

The Balinese

Before Bali became a thriving tourist destination, the people of Bali had been living on the island up to or even before the Stone Age. It is uncertain when they came to the island; however the discovery of artifacts can date it to before said period. To understand the identity and world-view of the Balinese, one must first understand a few things about them:

1. How do they fit the UN definition of “Indigenous”?

2. What is one issue that they face as an Indigenous group?

3. What are their distinguishing characteristics?

4. What is the importance of land to the Indigenous group?