Balinese High Priest Funeral

Sunday, June 23rd 2013, my grandmother passed away. she is a high priest of Balinese Hindu, so the funeral take a lot of time and complicated ceremony to do. the main ceremony occur at July 26th, and we still have several small ceremony to complete it, the last was held on august 6th. i really wish to photograph everything because ceremony like this is not usual, maybe i will not see something like this in next 10 years. yet, as the eldest grandson of her, i must take the main part in the most critical (and beautiful) ceremony. so i can shot only in some small preparation ceremony. so then, here are they;

picture above is the "ngereka kajang" ceremony. it's a ceremony to simulate or "create" my grandmother's body by using some other thing as symbol. all member of family must take a part. by the way, the picture is NOT arrange by date. i forget them, there's to many of date to remember.

3 pictures above is "bungan jaja", offering for the god to make she pleased. to do that, the most beautiful girl and handsome boy are chosen carefully. but in my case, we don't use the boy and replace he with woman high priest from another relative family, because this is funeral of woman high priest.

top to bottom: Rejang dance, Baris Dance, Topeng (mask) Dance. i will have article about the mask dance soon :)

my grandmother's bath ceremony, the white and yellow cloth in the centre of image is my grandmother's "coffin",  she is in there. old man at the top with big hat is my grandfather. besides him is another woman high priest from another temple.

above: my villager walk to holly fountain in my village to take holly water, 2nd, 3rd and 4th image is "departure" ceremony for the water in my home, and 5th image is a snap of simple Balinese Hindu offering. the last one is "dalang", player of balinese traditional puppet show, "wayang"

my grandfather, in his main holy suit, leading one of the ceremony.

my grandfather's sister, helping to make some complicated offering.

giant ox doll, or "lembu" in Indonesian, part of the long parade that accompany my grandmother's coffin to her funeral place.

some artistic snap, just love to see it :) the top image is base of the giant ox doll and the coffin carrier, called "bade". it's where people grab to lift them

my grandmother's coffin carrier. look like tower, isn't it? note someone that hang in front of that

my grandfather

and finally, my grandmother :'

as i say, i cannot  photograph most of the state-of-the-art ceremony because i must take a part in them. but i have page of Balinese "standard" funeral in here. i hope this article give you more information about Balinese ceremony :)