gesturing with her hands

gesturing with her hands

with a man in black and white --

the heart and the head

Up at 3:30, Robin awake too. We do some asanas together. The priest sees us and tells Robin he is "shy" because he can't talk to me. I say, "Tell him we speak to each other from our hearts."
          Robin is sitting on the bale talking with Patminya, the head of Bumi Sehat, Happy Child Foundation. She says, "He is the head, I am the heart. After I left Bali, the foundation fell apart." She is using a lot of hand gestures while she speaks in Bahasa Indonesia, which means "language of Indonesia," the official national language. She translates for me from time to time, but I feel like I am holding them back and I wish I could speak the language. I do occasionally recognize words that sound like Sanskrit or Dutch or Portuguese, not surprising, since their language, like English, has borrowed from many other languages. Robin tells me that the majority of words, even those referring to people, don't distinguish between the genders. On the other hand, an important distinction is made between older and younger. Everyone must know his/her place in the age hierarchy.
          Patminya is dressed all in black and white, representing the balance of good and evil. He is the leading expert on Hinduism on the island, has written many books and can read English. He and his wife live in Gianyar, where he is getting his Ph.d. He has come to ask her permission to campaign for her to come back, but only if she wants to. He wants to move back to the village, but his wife will come only if Robin and Wil are here, for intellectual and spiritual support. He has really big plans but feels he can't achieve them by himself. He is trying to change "bad" cultural habits and promote "good" ones. At 47, he's feeling frustrated in the pursuit of his goals. For example, the local hotel, a New Age spa, only hires outside people and won't let Balinese children swim in the pool, even two of Robin's children, half Chinese, who look Balinese. When Robin lived here, she tried to buy a year's pass so they could swim there but the hotel wouldn't back down. Unfortunately, discrimination seems to be a world-wide phenomenon.

gold-green-red serpent

gold-green-red serpent

on a gold penjor reaching

from earth to heaven

          Three odalan in one day! The first is down the street in Made's family compound. Robin is sitting under a penjor which towers over the temple shrines. This decorative banner is an important part of every anniversary temple celebration. The narrow, tapering cloth is attached to a young bamboo pole, perhaps 8-10 meters high. The tall, arching penjor with its dangling streamers is designed to be seen clearly by visiting ancestors and gods from the holy mountain. The banner is decorated with a beautiful undulating design of a serpent with a green and gold body and red crests. His head is at the bottom of the banner, where food offerings are made, and his tail is at the top of the pole, where streamers are attached as another type of offering. The white and yellow material of the banners indicates that they are a holy offering.
          Other penjor are decorated with plaited coconut leaf streamers, called sampian. Offerings are placed in a little bamboo cage, called sanggah cucuk, dangling near the top. This is considered to be a temporary throne for the gods when they come to visit. Tall penjor are typical of Gianyar, the province where Nyuh Kuning is located. At the wedding we attended, there were two penjor, a tall one with a white banner representing the man and a short one with a yellow banner representing the woman.
     Robin leaves to visit Mangku Liyer to have an amulet made to protect her from the leyak sent by the witch. Pak Win sits with me and explains the symbolism of the penjor and its serpent design. The penjor represents the dominance of dharma over adharma, as well as an offering to the gods. The towering banner represents Gunung Agung, the highest and holiest mountain on Bali, and the mountain symbolizes the world, which is divided into three realms. Suarga or heaven is where Ida Sang Hyang Widi Wasa, "Great Almighty Lord," resides. Bhuwah Loka is the realm where humans live. Neraka or the underworld lies below Bhuwah Loka. In the beginning there was nothing but infinite, empty space. Ida Sang Hyang Widi Wasa asked all the other gods to come together on top of Mount Mahameru to create a new island called Bali, where the gods would be worshiped and given offerings until the end. The great world serpent Sang Hyang Ananta Boga supported the island from below, while the turtle god Sang Hyang Kuram Gni became the foundation and Badawang Nala became the underneath layer of earth on the island. This is why Bali is called the island of the gods.

on the black sand beach

on the black sand beach,

boats painted like flying fish,

a dice gambling game

Ida Bagus and his wife have invited us to supper on Lebih Beach, south of Gianyar. Nice to see some different country. The beach has black sand and hundreds of jukung, traditional double-outrigger canoes used for fishing, with a marlin-like prow and triangular lateen sail. A group of boys are sitting on the sand around a dice board game. The board has six squares containing painted pictures: Lord Shiva, a naked woman, a sanyasi in a yellow robe with rudraksha beads carrying a bundle on a stick over his shoulder, a grimacing warrior in armor, a fanged monkey-man, and a pot-bellied demon. The three huge square dice have the same images. The gamblers put their money on a picture. The dealer, with sunglasses pushed up on his forehead, places the dice on a round tray and covers it with what looks like a black flower pot, shakes the pot and uncovers the tray. If you put your money on a picture that turns up, you win, but if your picture doesn't turn up, the dealer takes your money. We sit at an open-air restaurant at low tables on bamboo mats right on the sand. The meal is huge and delicious: rice with sweet potatoes and sampal, satay languan (fish satay) on skewers, pepas ikan (roast fish wrapped in banana leaf), spinach with soy nuts, hot fish ball soup. And then, when I thought we were done, a huge swordfish steak. Robin orders Green Sands, an alcoholic apple drink, and I try the Lime Fanta, which comes in a cracked glass and tastes disgusting. The music is so loud it hurts, so Ida Bagus has them turn it down. He is such a loving father, feeding his daughter in his lap, kissing her, taking her to the toilet. My only regret is that it's too late to go for a swim.