FUNERALS IN BALI
In Bali, funerals are important and expensive events whose size and expense depends on the caste, wealth and prestige of the deceased.Strange as it seems, it is in their cremation ceremonies that the Balinese have their greatest fun. A cremation is an occasion for gaiety and not for mourning, since it represents the accomplishment of their most sacred duty: the ceremonial burning of the corpses of the dead to liberate their souls so that they can thus attain the higher worlds and be free for reincarnation into better beings
The Balinese and Hindus believe cremation liberates the soul of the dead, allowing it to journey to heaven to rejoin the Hindu cycle of reincarnation. The body is often cremated in a pyre set off the road and the ashes are carried to a beach and released in the sea. If someone dies in an accident it is often believed that his spirit is trapped between the physical and spiritual worlds. A special ceremony is held to bring the spirit home. Afterward relatives are expected to help the deceased’s soul through afterlife to rebirth in a younger member of the family. Dereliction of these duties may cause the restless ancestor to bring illness to the family.
In a Balinese funeral procession, During funerals on Bali an excited crowd often fights over possession of the wrapped corpse and shakes the tower and runs around in circles to the accompaniment of gamelan music played by musicians that run behind the tower. The Balinese believe this disorients the corpse so it won't return to its former house and haunt the relatives for not performing all the prescribed rituals. Tourists are often welcomed at this stage of funeral because it is believed they help confuse and disorient the soul of the deceased. The procession ends when the body is transferred to a funeral sarcophagus at the cremation grounds and the sarcophagus, funeral tower and body are set afire.
Please hold your questions until the end of our presentation. Thank you.