Friday 20th October

Eating breakfast this morning we watched as a funeral procession passed down the road. The men carrying the coffin were zigzagging all over the place, and they were followed by lots of people on foot, all dressed in fine clothes with colourful sashes. The people on foot were followed by more mourners on motorbikes.  Traffic was at a complete standstill as policemen ushered the procession by.

We looked into doing a day trip for next week, met a very nice man offering tours; his name...Ketut!! Hmm, what’s going on here? Our manager, our guide and now this driver, all named Ketut; what are the chances? Turns out, VERY HIGH!! It would seem that most people in Bali share the same first name.

While it can sound a bit distant, Balinese people tend to name their children based on the order they were born. In the Sudra clan (which consists of about 90% of the Balinese population) firstborns are usually called one of three variations: Wayan, Gede or Putu. Second child: Made, Kadek or Nengah. Third child: Nyoman or Komang. Fourth child: Ketut – which means that our manager is the fourth child in his family, and he confirmed that that was the case when I asked him about it.

Confusingly, if there is a fifth child, they will revert back to Wayan, Gede or Putu and simply append the name “Balik” to it, meaning ‘another’. I’m not sure I’d like to be named Wayan Balik (another Wayan); seems insignificant, lesser, almost as if you were an afterthought.  Now there are exceptions to these, some people are named after their clan (caste), some go by their Hindu name and many others choose a nickname. Both men and women are named the same; the only difference being women prefix their name with “Ni”, similar to Miss while men use “I”. Fascinating,  and so very different from Western society.

The day consisted of more overindulgence at the Taman Selini bakery; every day the server lights up with a huge grin when he sees us, we are definitely his best (ahem, only) customers! Idleness at the beach was also mandatory.

Robin bought a new hat for the trip that’s got a camouflage design on it. Tony and Geoff are having a field-day messing with him. If he’s wearing it and talks, Tony will often go, “Who said that?”, “Did you hear something?”, “Where’s Robin?”. All very droll. A couple of times Geoff has gone “What was that?” and Robin will go to repeat himself and then realise Geoff is not implying that he wants it repeated, but is instead wondering where the sound is coming from. Such children!! There is much eye-rolling and facepalms. You gotta be so careful with bloody everything with this lot.

At about 5pm a large group of locals sat on the beach and took part in what appeared to be a ceremony. We figured it might be the funeral party we had seen earlier this morning. Curious as to what we were witnessing (and knowing we couldn’t intrude to quell our interests) I pulled up the all-knowing Google and did a quick search. Beach Bells Ashes Bali. Those search terms were enough to discover what was going on.

Here’s what I learned. We were witnessing the purification of the soul ritual, the third, and final, process of death in Balinese Hinduism. The first is the funeral and the second is the cremation, called Ngaben, which we partially witnessed this morning.

So the funeral happens shortly after a loved one has passed. The corpse is purified and then buried temporarily in a local cemetery until the family can afford the cremation ceremony. Sometimes this can be up to a year later! For families who can’t afford a cremation ceremony on their own, they bury the body and wait to join a mass village cremation; thus allowing them to divide the cost of the ceremony. Up to 60 bodies can be cremated at these events. 

At the next stage, Ngaben, the deceased is exhumed and placed a coffin and a sarcophagus made of paper and bamboo which is carried down the street to the cremation site. The corpse is not walked in a straight line, but staggered left and right and turned in circles, all in an effort to ward off evil spirits that want to take the soul. Women carry offerings on their heads, while wearing colourful sashes. It is not just family members that take part in the procession, but the entire community. The corpse is cremated and the ashes are collected. Ngaben is a joyful ceremony and family members should not be sad and mourn their loss at this stage as doing so can prevent the soul from moving on and finding peace. At this stage it is believed that the soul has been purified by fire and waits in heaven.

The final stage is purification of the soul. This is held twelve days after the Ngaben, and the ashes are placed in the sea. Now the soul is free to return back to earth and be reincarnated back into the family. Intriguing, no?