THE BALINESE NAMES

Bali known as an island with a strong bound of solidarity ,respects and a very tide of harmony living in their social lives. Rituals and religious believes have hardly been ever separated from their daily life and activities.one of the most crucial ceremony in the whole human Balinese life is a  three(3) months ceremony for the baby.this ceremony is represented to the ancestors who reincarnate to the baby body,having a full  Balinese name and allowing the baby to touch the ground (as a mother earth) for the first time since the baby born. Generally Balinese speaks Balinese Language (bahasa Bali) as a daily speaking language  and Indonesian language ( Bahasa Indonesia) as national mother language in formal situations such as at school,government offices,Bank,post office etc.now days, many of Balinese speaks English for most and others language such as german,French ,Russian,chinesse and many more languages  due to the demand on the tourism industry.

As we talking about the Balinese names,The Balinese people has their own local Balinese names which describes sort of birth in their family such as putu,gede,kadek ,komang ,ketut and so on,before its followed by their full name or secondary names and of course,often you hear those specific names while you are in Bali.Formerly, those sort of birth names are used for the traditional Balinese family planning and supposed to have  four(4) kids in the entire family.but nowdays,according the Indonesian Government family planning program “2 kids is enough” , the third and the fourth Balinese names soon will be reduced in usage or could be gone. normally in old passion Balinese name are not using or put the family name in their name,but some family starting to use a family name at the end of their Balinese name.it changed a lots, it is because of how important to put their family name for their next generation or might be it is because of modern influences from the western style name.and could be really important to put a family name in oerder to organize a passport or other legal papers for those who want to stay,study or even work in foreign country.

Here they are the 10th Balinese names :

1.the first born baby has 4( four) names,called:

  • WAYAN,Taken from the origin word of “wayahan “ means the eldest or the most ripe if taken from the words of fruits and used for the girl and boy name.
  • LUH,Taken from the origin word of “luwe” in Balinese it means female and used only for the women or girl name.
  • GEDE,means “huge”,the biggest or the oldest and commonly used for the boy name.
  • PUTU,taken from the word “cucu” means the grand child of the family.so it is more easy to call the first baby “ucu” or “cucu” from the grandparents. and costumized to putu.it used for a both gender name the girl and the boy.

2.the 2nd born baby has 3 names,called:

  • MADE,Taken from the word “madia” or the middle in English translation .it means the kinds who are born in the middle or means the second born.those name are for a both gender ,boy and the girl’s name.
  • NENGAH, which means in the middle or the origin word of and this name is also for the boy and girl’s name.
  • KADEK, this name is the costumization from the name of Made.taken from the origin word “kade or adek” .it means the your brother or sister and this name is used for a both gender boy and girl.

3.the 3rd born baby has 2 names,called:

  • NYOMAN,taken from the origin word of uman,means sisa or the rest.according the ancient Balinese life was suggested to have or better to have 3 kids and therefore would be expected much more matures or wise for the parent for leading or a better conduct to their family life.
  • KOMANG, it is the costumization name from the name of nyoman ,cause the name of komang more used for a modern Balinese name for the 3rd born child. Due to the ancient herbal medicines were not effectively prevent the pregnancy and an abortion matter is something really taboo and forbidden among the Balinese society.some family were hardly to stop their pregnancy wife till they have more than 3 children.so then come the fourth.

4.the 4th born baby has the only name called:

  • KETUT,taken from the word of kitut,means the bonus or also can be mean really the end of the rest.or it could be means as the belove child.the word of “kitut” in Balinese taken from the last or the lowest group of banana fruit.

So what happen if they have more than 4 children in the family? to named them has to reverse back again to the first name system and having the same circle and so on.it could be have 2 wayans or 2 kadeks in the same family.it sounds interesting,isn’t it? it is no wonder to have the same initial names in entire family in Bali.

The Balinese names also has an Article name which is refers to their gender.commonly used for the Sudra’s name but also some used for the Ksatrya names. the article ‘I’ in the Balinese name is refers to a male names, such as “I made…or I gusti…and so on. and the article “NI” is refers to a female names such as : Ni Luh…,Ni Komang…,and so on.All those names are applied in every castes level.it would be begun by their caste’s title  and then followed by their sort of birth name in the family, such as:

  • Brahmana name : Ida Bagus Gede….,Ida ayu(Dayu) Putu…or and so on.
  • Ksatrya name: Anak Agung Gede…,I gusti putu…,Dewa ketut…and so on
  • Waisya name : Ngakan gede…,kompyang putu…, Sang Nyoman…, and so on.
  • Sudra name : has no title’s name and it is directly begun with their sort of birth name in their family as explained above.

Many of things has changed in this modern lives including the way of giving the children’s name. in the past,our parent were easily gave their children a  name as they want or thought as long as not confused them when they call their children’s name.but now days ,mostly parent are really carefully choose or took the name for their children.sometimes, they have  to ask the priest or wise people,or taken from the sanskrit words or famous figures name .so  what’s the popular now? some of balinese children’s name is influenced by western name such as : kadek cindy….,or Putu robby adi….,komang vina…and so on.then combined with some others Balinese name.therefore,next time when you are in Bali and meet the Balinese for the first time, it would be no wonder for you at all if they introduce their balinese name  and easily for you to recognize that they are Balinese people.

Mount Agung eruption

Mount Agung eruption

Location and The Balinese believe

Mount Agung is a strato-type volcano with the height of 3,142 above sea level.Located at KarangAsem Regency, sub distric of Rendang ,East part of Bali Island. it has a very large and very deep crater that sometimes bring out of smoke and moisture. This mountain looks perfectly sharp,this mount elongated and ends in a circular crater and wide. it is the highest and the most sacred mountain for the Balinese. on the foot of the mt agung also found the Hindu biggest Temple called the Besakih Temple(the mother Hindu Temple), where they believes as the abode of the gods and the ancestors before they could  reincarnate to the earth.

The Eruption History

According to the Record of Mt Agung eruption is only known as much as four times,  in the year of 1800,1821,1843 and the last eruption was in 1963 where killed almost 1100 peoples  more and destroyed a lots of villages surrounding the area.  After Since the last 53 years ,it has not shown really significant activities, the mount Agung has begun its  activities since the last September 2017.and the eruption has occurred on Saturday, November  25,2017, which is began with freatic type of explosion by  thrown out a huge number of high pressure gases and ashes  from the beneath of the volcano to the air at the altitude of 1500metres till 3000 meters over the Mt  Agung Crater.  and the eruption  is still on going with the chancing type of the eruption from phreatic  to magmatic which can caused more bigger explosion possibility.

The eruption rate of Mount Agung began to increase from phreatic to magmatic on November 25th at 23.00 pm, and to this day the magmatic eruption continues to occur. In fact, last night a continuous effusive eruption took place, accompanied by a banging sound and this indicated a greater potential for eruptions, possibly in the future. Considering these conditions, PVMBG( the Center for volcanology and Geological Dissaster Mitigation) increased the volcanic activity status of Gunung Agung from Siaga (level III) to Awas Level IV as of November 27, 2017, at 06.00 Wita, “said Head of Mitigation Division of Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation I Gede Suantika on Monday (27 / 11/2017)”.

The impact of the eruption on the tourism in Bali

As known, the Bali government has started to make a lots of preparations to against the threat of Mt Agung eruption in Bali. It follows the latest report of the Meteorology and Geophysics Agency which provides the status all time related to the condition of Mount Agung. The proof, tens to hundreds of thousands of residents have been evacuated and took mitigation steps to preparing the measures impact of the eruption.

But the Bali Government has to closed the international Bali airport as well on Monday,November 27,2017 for the next 24 hours due to the volcanic dust which has closed the air space at the airport up to two level. several flight departure are suspended and so does flight arrival that supposed to land in Bali airport were cancelled.

Mt agung is located at the eastern part of Bali ,some part of Bali island are still safe to stay and to visit such as south bali area,middle bali ,west and north bali area. it has still an option to come to Bali through the other airport  in Java even Bali airport is closed.. Then take a train or local taxi to Ketapang harbour to Gilimanuk harbour which is connected Bali and Jawa Island.

Eventually we can just pray and wished that our beautiful Bali can passed this natural catastrophes disaster as soon as possible. So we can get back to our normal life and doing our activities as usually.

A very big thanks to every Balinese people,Bali provincial government,PVMBG,Bali international airport and all parties who concerned very much and has always working together (gotong royong) to prevent and protect all aspects due to this Mt Agung eruption.May God Bless Us Always !

Best wishes

bli gojink bali

www.bli gojink bali.com

 

NGABEN THE BALINESE CREMATION CEREMONY

NGABEN THE BALINESE CREMATION CEREMONY

NGABEN ,The Balinese cremation ceremonyngaben

Ngaben is one of the greatest funeral ritual  ceremony performed  in Bali. And also as a series of the human rituals for whom already died. Ngaben is a purification ceremony for  the soul or Atma  at the first phase as a Hinduism duty to their ancestors with the procession of burning the corpses.basically the aim of  this ceremony is to send back the ancestor’s soul (atma) to the place of origin (Brahman)as a universal source of life. the Ngaben itself is a fusion from hindu religion teachings with Balinese cultural custom.

Ngaben is commonly  held by family  or relatives from the deceased as a form of respect and  honor from their children to their parents or ancestors.this ceremony is mostly held with a lots of joy,happiness and no more sadness from the family.cause in Balinese believe ,by crying or keep sad over the deceased will became an obstacles for the journey of  the soul (atma) to where it belongs(Brahman) and to achieve  the final released(moksha) or to reincarnate in the next life.

Ngaben procession and the equipments

This ceremony is always completed with  an elaborately  colorful decorated  cremation tower or Bade or wadah which is used to put the dead body and normally lifted up  by a lots of people and  paraded along the way  from the house to the village’s cemetery  and  Lembu as a place to placed the coffin of the dead body during the burning process in the cemetery after taken out from the cremation tower. Then all of those equipments will be burning together beside with the corpses.

This rituals process is a symbol to release the soul from the biological body which is made from the five elements  such as solid(pertiwi),liquid(apah),heat(teja),air or gas( bayu) and vacuum matters(akasa). And this process of sending  back those five elements to where it belongs called Ngaben, an original word of ngabuin  which means turn into ashes.the ashes  collected  into the  holed  gold coconut and coupled with some holy symbols  called sekah  is finally released to the ocean or river  as a symbol of universe  and the way the heaven  and also as a  holy  place for the purification to freeing the soul from the dirt and earthly bonds.

After the all procession is done,all of  the family or relatives may pray for the ancestor’s souls in the  house family  temple quietly. That is  way the family bond in Balinese  family is very strong ,cause they always honor and respect to their ancestors and parents as well. Balinese also believes that the souls of the ancestor will be reincarnate into the cycle of family bond ,usually a grand child is a reincarnation from their parents or ancestors.

The implementation of  Ngaben ceremony in Balinese life

Ngaben is not always done immediately after someone died, except for the highest casts in Bali which is normally doing this ceremony 3 days after the death. But it will take a few years to do this ceremony  for the lowest casts due to a lots of preparation, costs and take so much energy to bring this ceremony realized. normally the deceased will be buried in the ground for a few years or cremated directly after died  in the village’s cemetery(mekingsan ring  geni or stored in the fire) and then the soul of the dead will stay at the Dalem(the Death) temple  until the family  has enough money to do this ceremony.

Now days  Ngaben in Bali generally carried out  often together  with the other village’s member (public cremation) to afford the costs ,preparation ,energy and etc. normally they working together for a lots of preparations from the beginning process  until  comes the main day of the ceremony and  well organized by the structural organization in the village. Every expenses  will  be counted per death body or deceased   in the family .the spacious day for doing Ngaben ceremony will be choosen by the highest priest in Hindu religion also called Pedanda through some consultation and combination with the Balinese calendar .

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