BALINESE HOLIDAYS, FESTIVALS, RITUALS, CEREMONIES AND OFFERINGS

BALINESE HOLIDAYS, RITUALS AND CELEBRATIONS

family performing puja at a Hindu Temple in Bali during a cremation ceremony

Balinese life is full of rituals, celebrations and parties. There are rituals for planting crops and building homes, ceremonies to summon gods from mountains, small prayer sessions, and elaborate cremations with fires only a few feet from the road. There are parties for weddings, pregnancies, cremations, temple purifications, teeth filing and other rites of passage. This is in addition to the festivals on the Balinese calendar. Offering are made during the new moon, full moon, 15th day. And other auspicious days when evil spirits are especially active.

Each temple congregation holds periodic rituals to placate spirits to ensure harmony and bring about peace and prosperity. At a 24-hour temple consecration ceremony, women arrive with fruit, flowers and colored fruit cakes piled on their head. The Brahmin priest, sitting cross legged on the alter, chants mantras and twirls frangipani flowers between his middle fingers in the middle of clouds of sandalwood incense. "Our prayers and incense were like a ladder inviting the spirits to descend to their former home on earth," one Brahmin priest told the New York Times, "Then, the music and the women's sacred prayers welcomed the visiting deities."

Balinese Hinduism differs significantly from Indian Hindu traditions, and while holidays such as Holi and Diwali are known, Balinese Hindu festivals are the island’s most important religious observance. There are over 60 religious holidays a year. The basic tenet of Balinese religion is the belief that the island is owned by the supreme god Sanghyang Widhi, and has been handed down to the people in sacred trust. Thus the Balinese seem to devote most of their waking hours to an endless series of physically and financially exhausting offerings, exorcisms, purifications, processions, and temple ceremonies. Festivals are dedicated to woodcarving, transport vehicles, the birth of a goddess, and percussion instruments; there are temple festivals, fasting and retreat rituals, parades to the sea, full moon ceremonies, celebrations of wealth and learning. They go on and on. [Source: Indonesia-fascination.blogspot.jp]

Festivals in Bali

Balinese women carrying gebogan during Puputan Badung Festival in Denpasar in 2018

There are many holidays marked on the Balinese calendar and since their calendar is only 210 days almost two Balinese years fit in our one. House warming parties, funerals and harvests are celebrated with festivals and processions. Individual villages have their own ceremonies, certain temples have certain rituals performed on certain days, so it is very rare that a day passes are there isn't some kind of festival somewhere on Bali. [Source: Donna Grosvenor, National Geographic, November 1969]

Each of Bali's thousands of temples celebrates its own odalan, or festival, which usually lasts three days. These festivals are timed according to a calendrical system that includes a 210-day ritual cycle and a 12-month lunar cycle. The months of the lunar cycle are numbered according to the Indian Saka year; the first year of the Saka calendar corresponded to AD 78. Additionally, there are three "week" cycles: the three-day Balinese market week (Pasah, Beteng/Tegeh, and Kajeng); the five-day Javanese market week (Umanis, Paing, Pon, Wage, and Kliwon); and the seven-day week. [Source: A. J. Abalahin,“Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life,” Cengage Learning, 2009 *]

Celebrations may include music, dance, drama or shadow puppet performances. When they are performed in this context they have a sacred meaning and are often payed for by wealthy people. During celebrations Balinese wear headdresses and colorful head scarves tied around their head. During processions women carry trays of fruit and flowers on their head. Large ceremonies are presided over by Brahmin priests. Lower caste priests care for temples and perform local ceremonies.

John Reader wrote in “Man on Earth”: "Everyone of the 20,000 temples has a day of celebration each year, lasting three days or more at the important temples, and for every activity an offering must be made at the appropriate time of year. The arts must be honored, for instance, and offerings must be made to the musical instruments, dance costumes and the masks...There are days when implements must be reconsecrated, others when appeals are made for special cattle breeding, and when offering are made to fruit trees, palms and gardens. On “Saraswati”, a holy day commemorating the goddess of learning, no reading and writing are allowed, and all books must be offered for blessing...On “Soma”, the goddess of rice and fertility is honored and the milling or selling of rice is forbidden...The list of obligatory offerings is very long, and many of the events require elaborate preparations." [Source: "Man on Earth" by John Reader, Perennial Libraries, Harper and Row]

Bali Coming of Age Rituals

There are a number of life-cycle rituals to celebrate things like births and pregnancies. The first ceremony takes place before birth, at the third month of pregnancy, when a series of offerings are made at the home of the pregnant mother and the village river.

A big coming of age ritual for Balinese boys and girls is the tooth-filing ceremony, which is intended protect the initiates from "sadripu," the evil in human nature. Girls have the ritual performed when they are 12. On the day of the ceremony girls grease their hair down with beeswax and wear a crown of frangipani blossoms. They are then carried in a palequin in a procession that ends at the house of a Hindu priest, who performs the ritual.

To the sound of gamelan music and chants a priest first rubs a gold ring on the girls lips. He then files their teeth so that they are all even. The experience is supposedly nerve tingling but not painful. The teeth filings are placed in a coconut and buried. The Balinese believe that part of the soul lives in the teeth. They also believe that every individual must have their teeth filed before they die. Small teeth ensure entry into heaven . People with unfiled teeth may be mistaken as demons with huge fangs and prohibited from entering. [Source: "Bali by the Backroads" by Donna Grosvenor, November 1969]

Balinese Ceremonies

In Bali, there is no single day without a ceremony. It is an obligation for human to promote balance relations among human, gods and nature. Those principles are materialized through a whole-heartily sacrifice, called Yadnya. Yadnya can be a very simple thing like giving a slice of one’s sausage to a wandering dog, or just cleaning up plastic rubbish in a temple area. Yadnya, or giving away, is the root of most ceremonies in Bali. [Source: Bali A Traveler’s Companion and Bali Tourism Information Book 2008]

Rituals are performed in cycles, the most important of which is the six-month cycle. Islandwide ceremonies are held every six months, and each temple holds an anniversary ritual every six months. Families arrange life-cycle rituals, the most important of which is the cremation. The larger ceremonies are conducted by Brahman priests. Lower-caste priests care for temples and perform local ceremonies. [Source: Ann P. McCauley,“Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East / Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993]

There are five obligations, or Panca Yadnya. Dewa Yadnya aims at thanking to the God, Pitra Yadnya to respect the ancestors’ souls, Manusa Yadnya aims at cleaning human souls, Rsi Yadnya is held when someone want to be a priest and Bhuta Yadnya aims for thanking to nature and balancing their positive and negative powers. Those Yadnya are reflected through ceremonies, but Dewa Yadnya is reflected through ceremonies more than the others. Those hundreds of ceremonies regularly held anywhere on the island each is based on one of the Panca Yadnya. Different traditions from one village to another create more variations among places in Bali.

Mecaru is one of the most interesting ceremonies belonging to Bhuta Yadnya ritual. It aims at balancing the nature’s positive and negative energies. In Bali, the accepted concept is that there should be a balanced relationship among the negative and positive powers to maintain a harmonious world. Mecaru can be divided into some levels, and the higher one is called Tawur

Balinese Offerings

Offerings are an important part of rituals and celebration. They are made to ancestors, spirits connected to places and other supernaturals. They include flowers, betel leaves, bits of lime, slivers of areca nuts, and colored rice symbolizing the Hindu trinity (red for Brahma, white for Siva and black for Vishnu). Offerings made of fruit, flowers, incense and multi-colored rice paste all bound together around a bamboo frame can weigh up to 240 pounds and tower eight feet. The rice paste is fashioned into designs of gods, humans and animals. Structures up to five meters high are made for annual festivals, and ones twice as big for once-every-hundred-year festivals. The eight foots take a dozen people about three days to build. Dogs often snatch the offering. Bali’s customs are sometimes threatened by the economic downturn as people don’t have enough money for offerings and ceremonies.

Balinese make offerings to their ancestors, spirits connected to places, and other supernatural beings, some of whom have Indian names. The Balinese believe that "kesaktian," meaning "potency" or "magical power," is present in ritual objects, trees, stones, mountains, and so on. They believe that these things must be respected. The purpose of their religious practices is to maintain equilibrium between the "upper" forces, which are considered pure, good, and constructive, and the "lower" forces, which are considered impure, evil, and destructive. Thus, the Balinese make offerings to both gods and demons. They offer prepared food, especially rice cakes, and leaf weavings to the former, and the blood of freshly slaughtered animals to the latter. [Source: A. J. Abalahin,“Worldmark Encyclopedia of Cultures and Daily Life,” Cengage Learning, 2009]

There are three main instruments Balinese apply in a prayer, Bunga (flower), Dupa (incense), and Tirtha (holy water). Bunga, flower, is the symbol of respect to the almighty. There are some restrictions of flowers allowed to be used. (1) Such a flower should not grow up in grave yard. (2) It must be fresh. (3) Such a flower is not stayed by bugs or another small insects. (4) No Coconut flower or meduri may be used. A coconut is instead widely used in other ceremony because it has been filled with holy water. Dupa, incense, is the second main tool in Balinese ceremony which has function as witness of a ceremony. Besides, Dupa is symbol of Agni, the God of fire. Unlike Chinese, Balinese incense has smaller size and it is only in stick shape. [Source: Bali A Traveler’s Companion and Bali Tourism Information Book 2008]

All rituals aim to purify and thus require holy water, which people can only obtain from priests. Tirtha is holy water which is sprinkled before and after ceremony. The name and function of this holy water is depending the ceremony itself, so that is why there are many name and function of Tirtha. There are two types of Tirtha which is always found in a ceremony. The first one is Tirtha Pelukatan. This holy water is applied as soul cleanser before one enter a temple or start ceremony. Tirta Pelukatan is sprinkled by the temple priest to all people before starting a ceremony. In some place in Bali when the temple ceremony held Tirtha Pelukatan is put inside big earthenware in front of entrance door and stained by the people themselves. The second Tirtha is called Tirtha Wangsuh Pada. This holy water is sprinkled after a ceremony is finished as a symbol of God blessing to human.

Important Celebrations in Bali

Galungan is the most important day of the Balinese year. Marked by offerings and ceremonies, it commemorates the world's creation by the Supreme Balinese God and the victory of good over evil, and celebrates the arrival of the gods and ancestral spirits to Earth, where they will dwell in the homes of their descendants once again. Festivities include offerings, dances, and new clothes.

Galungan is a 10-day festival celebrated throughout the island. It begins on the first day of the eleventh week of the 210-day year. During this time, the Balinese invite the gods and deified ancestors to descend from heaven, which is directly above the island's greatest mountain, Gunung Agung. As Galungan originated as a harvest festival, penjor—high bamboo poles bending with decorations—are raised in front of each house and temple to represent fertility. *

Kunigan is the second most important day on Bali's Hindu calendar. During this festival Balinese make offerings and wash themselves in the sacred waters at Tampaksiring Temple to purify themselves. Ciwaratri is a Hindu rite observed in Bali and West Lombok where devotees fast and don't sleep for twenty four hours

Hari Raya Saraswati is devoted to the goddess of learning, science, and literature. On this day, no one is allowed to read or write, and offerings are made to palm-leaf scripts, books, and shrines. Ceremonies and prayers are held at temples, in almost every house and school, and at every other institution of learning. Teachers and students dress informally on this day. [Source: Anjan Chakraborty The Statesman, October 2008]

Eka Dasa Rudra: Bali’s Once-Every-Hundred-Year Festival

The biggest Balinese festival, Eka Dasa Rudra ("Hundred Year Ceremony") takes place every 100 years or when bad times require it. The festival entails several weeks of ceremonies at Bali's supreme temple, Besakih, on the slopes of Mount Agung. The aim of these ceremonies is to purify the entire universe by exorcising Rudra, the chaotic aspect of Shiva. Eka Dasa Rudra was last held between February and May 1979 and included 30 ceremonies. Before that it was held in 1963 right before Mount Agung, Bali's largest and holiest volcan, erupted killing 1,500 people. Foreigners usually aren't allowed to attend the ceremonies which attempts to restore the balance in the world between the forces of good and evil. One was attended President Suharto and included the sacrifice of 80 animals, including leopards and eagles which were thrown into the volcano's crater.

To prepare for the festival the Balinese construct elaborately detailed offerings out of colored cookie-dough that are mounted onto wooden frames. The holy dough is shaped into images of Balinese gods. Dozens of images and designs are attached to the offering frames which are cluttered yet harmonious and symmetrical. At Besakih, Bali's holiest temple, offerings are placed on top of 11 foot towers encircled by sacrifices. [Source: Donna Grosvenor, National Geographic, November 1969 ♤]

The "Beast's Mane," another kind of offering, is huge monster created from ginger and rice stalks with coconut and cassava horns and a tail made from bananas and coconuts. Once the beast is constructed it is carried by about 50 men to Besakih which sits at the base of Mt. Agung. Besikah is a huge temple complex made of dozens of shrines which honor the Balinese gods which number in the hundreds.♤

Another important ceremony is the three day procession to the sea in which images are carried 19 miles from Besikah to the black sand beach at Batu Klotok. Along the route, villagers gather and offerings are made. At the beach a buffalor calf with gold on its horns and silver bracelets around its legs is sacrificed by being thrown into the surf with a rock tied around its neck. ♤

Over 150,000 people carrying baskets packed with offerings show up for the climax of the festival, the Taur rites. The ceremony is presided over by 23 white-robbed priests wearing turbaned crowns. Special gambuh dances are performed, prayers are said and scores of animals-from anteaters to eagles-are sacrificed to appease to various demonic manifestations of Bali's supreme being, Rudra. The festival ends a few day later during a closing ceremony when a priest sprinkles holy water on dignitaries who have attended the event.♤

Nyepi — the Hindu Day of Silence and Balinese New Year

Hari Raya Nyepi is the Hindu Day of Silence, also known as the Balinese New Year on the Saka calendar. On New Year's Eve, villages are cleaned, food is cooked for two days, and noise is made to scare away devils. While people make a great deal of noise on the eve of Nyepi, either to drive demons away or to call their attention to offerings laid out for them, on Nyepi itself, people observe absolute quiet—not even vehicles may travel. No fire may be lit and the use of heat or artificial light is discouraged. It is hoped that all the demons and evil spirits that were aroused the night before will think Bali is empty and leave the island. People reflect on the previous year and make resolutions for the new year.

Nyepi falls in late March on or around the time of the Spring Equinox. It marks the end of the old year and the beginning of the new year and usually coincide with the end of the rainy season, The entire month leading up to Nyepi it is devoted to purification. While many cultures welcome the new year with fireworks, parties, and celebration that is not the case here. Nyepi is observed for 24 hours, starting at 6:00am and is a day reserved for self-reflection. Restrictions include no lighting fires (lights must be kept low), no working, no entertainment, no traveling, and for some, no talking or eating. There are few signs of activity inside homes, and the only people seen outdoors are pecalang, traditional security guards who patrol the streets to ensure that the restrictions are followed. Even tourists are not exempt—they are not allowed on beaches or streets, and Bali's only airport remains closed for the entire day. Only cars carrying patients are allowed on the streets. [Source: Anjan Chakraborty The Statesman, October 2008]

On Nyepi people fast and meditate and electricity use is minimized. Only emergency vehicles allowed to circulate. Nyepi affects everyone on the island, regardless of belief. The airport, shops, and tourist attractions close, and no hotel check-ins or departures are permitted. Visitors staying in Bali at the time must remain within their hotels or accommodations, making Nyepi a rare experience of enforced stillness for tourists as well as locals.[Source: Lilit Marcus, CNN, March 28, 2025]

For visitors, Nyepi can be both challenging and rewarding. Resorts such as the Viceroy Bali make special efforts to prepare guests in advance, offering information, cultural context, and opportunities to observe Ngrupuk festivities in nearby villages. While guests are required to stay on hotel grounds during Nyepi, many choose to embrace the spirit of the day by unplugging from technology and observing silence.

Hotels remain operational in a limited way, providing meals and access to facilities such as pools and spas, even as restaurants and shops close. As resort manager Jero Mangku Tindih explains, hotels strive to respect Balinese culture while accommodating guests of different faiths. In recent years, however, the observance has grown stricter, with the provincial government requesting telecommunications providers to shut down internet and broadcast services during Nyepi.

Some travelers plan their trips specifically to experience Nyepi, while others encounter it unexpectedly. Many, like American writer Margot Bigg, find the experience unexpectedly moving. Though she did not originally plan her visit around the holiday, she later reflected that Nyepi was a powerful and beautiful tradition—one that offers lessons in reflection and mental well-being far beyond Bali itself.

Ngrupuk— the Wild Celebration Before Nyepi

Although Nyepi itself is quiet, the days leading up to it are anything but. The eve of the Balinese New Year, known as Ngrupuk, is marked by noisy and dramatic rituals intended to drive away evil spirits. Giant papier-mâché effigies called ogoh-ogoh, representing malevolent forces, are paraded through villages by local youth before being symbolically burned. These elaborate figures take months to construct and are a major attraction for visitors. [Source: Lilit Marcus, CNN, March 28, 2025]

The aim of Ngrupuk is to roust out the demons that, having been swept out of Hades following the rainy season, have gone into hiding on the island. The Balinese make elaborate offerings to lure the devils out and then run through the streets, their bodies painted, bearing torches and making noise to drive them off the island. [Source: Indonesia-fascination.blogspot.jp]

Traditional Ngrupuk practices include carrying torches from house to house, making loud noises, spitting local meswi spice in corners of family compounds, and placing limestone crosses (tapakdara) at household shrines. These acts function as ritual cleansing, symbolically erasing misfortune and moral impurities from the previous year.

During Ngrupukpurification sacrifices and offerings known as pratima are made at crossroads and in village squares. Priests chant mantras to exorcize the demons of the old year. In the evening people bang gongs and cymbals and parade through the streets with flaming torches. Gamelan music is played. Accompaning the monster-shaped ogah-ogah floats are people dressed in papier mache masks representing evil spirits accompany them. Everyone makes a loud racket until dawn, when the new year is ushered in with silence and the evil spirits have been banished and everyone is cleansed.

While Nyepi is a time for introspection and moral renewal Ngrupuk is a time for hedonistic release. Professor Wayan Ari, a Balinese academic, told CNN Nyepi day is meant to encourage reflection on values such as humanity, patience, love, and kindness. The loud excesses of Ngrupuk serve as a cathartic release, clearing away negative energy before the new year begins in silence and purity.

Melasti

Melasti, a Dewa Yadnya ceremony, is a ritual which people purify themselves and their temples to keep evil spirits away. Melasti is usually held one day before Nyepi— the Balinese New Year. Balinese people do processions from their temple to the sea, carrying temple items to be cleansed in the waters and return them to the temple for a prayer. It prepares the entire community for the new year.

The annual Melasti rite, which falls around March 23, aims not only at purifying the souls of the Balinese people and their universe. It is a huge joyous occasion that nobody wants to miss. Around 75 villages, as well as hundreds of banjar in the capital of Denpasar take turns in performing the Melasti rituals until the last day before Nyepi. Melasti is also performed in 1,475 traditional villages around the island and along the island’s coastline. Residents of the mountainous Bangli regency area which has no coastlines perform their rituals either at Batur Lake or at the neighboring Gianyar regency’s Siyut Beach.

Aris Andrianto wrote in Tempo, “ The ritual is a process of purify themselves from sins and bad habits to welcome the Nyepi (Day of Silence). "The ceremony is aimed to wipe clean all of their bad characteristics," said the local Hindu youth figure, Minoto Dharmo. According to Mintono, the word Melasti came from the Indian word 'Male' which means 'dirt', and 'Letah' which means 'human'. The greed and arrogance which only bring disadvantages to people need to be purified during Melasti ceremony. The ritual consists of series of activities, starting with the Hindu priests (pandhita, pinandhita) who recite holy Hindu verses and followed by the Hindu people who are attending the ceremony. The ritual was then continued with drifting some offerings in the form of crops onto the sea. "The offering is our sacrifice for God and to show our gratefulness to the universe, and give back the gift of the universe which consists of three elements namely earth, water, and sun light," Mintono said. Prior to commencing the ritual, Hindu people cleaned up their village and temples together. [Source: Aris Andrianto, Tempo, March 30, 2014]

Melasti Beach Ceremony Procession

Agnes Winarti wrote in the Jakarta Post, “As the sun lazily rises from its deep sleep amid the unceasing drizzle, thousands of Balinese, young and old, mostly in traditional white attire, devoutly flow onto the Padang Galak Beach to perform their Melasti ritual. Waking up at 3 a.m. for Tuesday’s Melasti ritual on Padang Galak Beach, which is about 20 kilometers from their home in Jenah village, Ketut Subagio, 35, the father of Ary and Merta, said: “Whenever it’s time for morning rituals like today, my boys usually dash from their beds much quicker than when it’s time for school. No fretting at all.” [Source: Agnes Winarti, Jakarta Post, March 22, 2012 /*]

“Even when not feeling well, I always make an effort to attend Melasti so that I can thank God for just being alive,” said Subagio, as he warmly greeted some friends and relatives just arrived from other villages. Only those who are deemed unsuitable, including the sick, menstruating women and anyone mourning the death of a family member within the previous 11 days, are not allowed to join the Hindu Balinese sacred ritual. /*\

“Padang Galak Beach welcomed continuous waves of Melasti celebrants on their motorcycles and in cars, as well as throngs of villagers being merrily “unloaded” from trucks and pickups. Accompanied by the sound of bleganjur gamelan instruments and the soothing fragrance of incense, the villagers brought colorful loads of offerings and their temples’ paraphernalia such as the barong and rangda effigies, various sacred figurines of deities (pratima), the traditional dance clothes and accessories to be purified by seawater. /*\

“Whether the day is rainy or scorching hot, we’ll always perform this tradition that has been passed down through the generations. We never feel forced to continue it,” said head of Cengkilung banjar (traditional neighborhood organization), Made Suarsana, adding that even in these modern days, Balinese youngsters remain devoted to the ngayah or communal traditional duties. Agung Ngurah, another resident of the Cengkilung village that lies about 10 kilometers from Padang Galak Beach, added: “We instill traditions into the lives of our youngsters by not only bringing the children to join such ritual, but also by making ogoh-ogoh effigies, for instance.” “Cengkilung village, which has some 460 residents, requires the villagers who are absent from a half-a-day of ngayah activities to pay a penalty of between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000. “But the penalty is not why we maintain our traditions. It’s because we cherish this whole togetherness,” said Made. /*\

“As all the paraphernalia and offerings were neatly arranged at the praying sites on the beach, temple priests began chanting, while villagers chose cozy spots to sit and chatted casually among fellow villagers, had some light breakfast, quenched their thirsts or simply took the time to gaze at the ocean waves. Once the priests completed their chants, villagers stopped chatting, prepared their small offerings, lit up the incense and made a brief communal prayer toward the ocean. During the prayer, a few of the Melasti participants reached a form of trance that drove them to perform particular dance movements or even stabbing themselves with a kriss (traditional dagger). /*\

“After floating their offerings, containing flower petals, leaves and small sums of money, into the ocean, participants were then sprinkled with holy water and thus completed the procession of the Melasti ritual that lasted about two hours. For Balinese Hindus, water plays a central role as a symbol of purification used in the religion’s various rituals. That explains why all Hindu Balinese seek the ocean or other large water reserves such as lakes or rivers to perform their Melasti rituals, the largest purification passage to welcome the arrival of the Saka New Year. As one village concluded their rituals, another village arrived to perform their own. /*\

Image Sources: Wikimedia Commons, Indonesia Tourism website

Text Sources: “Encyclopedia of World Cultures Volume 5: East/Southeast Asia:” edited by Paul Hockings, 1993; Wikipedia; National Geographic, Live Science, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Natural History magazine, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Smithsonian magazine, Encyclopedia.com, Library of Congress, The Conversation, The New Yorker, Time, BBC, CNN, Reuters, Associated Press, AFP, Lonely Planet Guides, Google AI, The Guardian and various websites, books and other publications.

Last updated January 2026