BALINESE CEREMONIES: DAILY HINDU OFFERINGS

Balinese daily offerings

Everywhere you go in Bali you can find women sitting around chatting while mechanically putting together quite artistic small baskets/ trays made from palm leaves then filling them with either rice, flowers or fruits.

And everywhere you go you will find these small offerings laying around- on sidewalks, roads, in front of shops, restaurants and houses. It’s sometimes actually rather difficult just to walk without accidentally stepping on them! But these little baskets of flowers and incense sticks are also what make Bali so wonderfully unique and fragrant.

Balinese woman placing daily offerings around property

The number of offerings placed around the premises depends on the size of the household/ business and could be anywhere from 3 up to 100 offering spots. For example, the restaurant I frequented in Lipah places offerings in about 9 spots, including 4 shrines.

Yulia homestay in Sanur, where I always stay, has about 20 shrines on their premises. Including all the other offering spots around the homestay, they place offerings in about 50 spots, twice/day! Each round takes about an hour. The wife of the household always makes the flower offerings, but staff sometimes make the ric/salt offerings.

Balinese woman placing offerings at garden shrine

Besides these twice-daily routine offerings, the Balinese make random offerings to ancestors and devils. Offerings to devils are made with 4 colors of rice: white, red, yellow and black, placed on coconut leaf baskets. These offerings are then always put on the ground, never up inside shrines or temples. Sometimes alcohol is also offered to devils.

Offerings to ancestors are made whenever someone thinks of his/her dead relative or dreams about them or even on a daily basis. These offerings are always made on clean plates. On the plates are placed water plus things that ancestor liked such as coffee or tea, cake, favorite foods, and cigarettes. These offerings are placed in high places, never on chairs or the ground. In addition to offerings for ancestors and devils, Balinese also place offerings inside cars before each trip.

basket of freshly prepared daily offerings

As you can imagine, the Balinese keep themselves quite busy with all the daily offerings, special occassions and annual ceremonies going on! And, as I mentioned above, travelers to Bali can’t help but notice the little offering baskets sitting around everywhere or witness Balinese wearing traditional clothing, placing offerings at shrines and/or heading off to one ceremony or another. It’s all part of unique Bali living.