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BALI |
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 The
origin of the religion in Bali happened around 6 centuries
ago in a time when the Islamism was already predominant in
all of South East Asia, when a hinduist dinasty decided to
migrate to the island of Bali followed by a legion of intellectuals,
wise men, dancers, painters, sculptors and many kinds of artists
and craftsmen that contributed to found the culture of the
island.
The religion in Bali is a fusion of Hinduism and
Budism and is therefore a bit different than the Hinduism
from other countries like India for example.
In Bali the religion plays such a big role in
the peoples lives to the point of the international airport
of the island getting closed for 24 hs in a special balinese
holiday when nobody is allowed to go out of their houses or
to walk outside on the streets in this day (Niepy Day).
The Balinese, specially the women, make daily
rituals (3 X a day, at sunrise, noon and sunset) with offerings
made with rice, a piece of banana, incense, a coin and flowers
organized inside a very little tray made from leafs with the
purpose of thanking the Gods for the life, food and protection
and for life to keep in harmony with the planet.
 Surfing
was not part of the local culture until the XX century; the
Balinese believed that in the ocean lived evil creatures and
spirits and always preferred to live in the mountains, places
they believed to be inhabited by good spirits.
Nowdays surfing became very popular amongst Balinese
and is always bigger the number of locals ripping the waves
in every surf spot.
The traffic in Bali can be considered to be a chaos and is
strongly advised to pay full attention while driving in the
streets of the island.
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CURIOSITIES |
• Size:
5620 Km², 140 Km wide and 80 Km long in its area from
ocean to ocean where there are volcanoes, waterfalls, forests,
lakes and lots of tropical beauty plus the already famous
and paradisiacal beaches.
• Population:
Over 3 million local people and residents and almost 1 million
tourists every month.
• In the past the rituals in Bali included even human
sacrifices and the society was formed by a complex system
of castas.
• Between the XVI and XIX centuries Bali was the biggest
slave exporter of Asia and a great rice producer.
• The balinese consider the head the most sacred part
of their bodies and the feet the lowest. Touching the head
of a balinese or putting your feet on the table can be understood
as disrespect.
• The majority of the balinese eat with their right
hand and use the left only for personal hygiene, never touching
money or food with the left hand.
• Language: The official language of
Indonesia is the bahasa Indonesia but in Bali the people speak
Balinese, a complex dialect.
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