May 3, 2002

Anna and Thomas went from Borneo island to another nearby island called Bali. Bali is in a different country than the part of Borneo that they visited, it is in Indonesia. The country of Indonesia is made up of several large  islands and many small ones. It is hard to see or understand the boundaries of the whole country, since there are so many islands, but it isn't too hard to find some of the biggest islands on a map. If you can find China in Asia, go down south past the countries of southeast Asia like Laos, Viet Nam, Cambodia, and Thailand. Just below Thailand there is a long thin strip of land (a peninsula) which is the country of Malaysia. Even further below this is a long string of islands, and most of them are in the country of Indonesia. 

Many years ago before there were cars or airplanes, people had to travel over the ocean using large boats, or over the land in caravans using animals to help carry things. The islands of Indonesia are located right in the middle of the sailing route between China and India, so there is a long history of people from these two countries passing through these islands. When people from Europe started to sail back and forth to China, they also started to visit Indonesia. Maybe at first the ships just stopped to get food and water along the way, but they soon discovered that there were many spices that grew on these islands and that the people of Europe wanted these spices very, very much. Pepper, cinnamon, and cloves are just a few examples of spices that came from Indonesia and couldn't be found anywhere in Europe.

Dutch people from Europe started to control the people from these islands. They ruled these islands for more than 100 years, until the start of a WWII, a huge war about 50 years ago. After this war, the people of these islands decided that they wanted to be their own country, and not be ruled by some big foreign country from far away. So Indonesia became an independent country  and started running it's own government. The island of Bali is one of the many islands in Indonesia, but it is very different from almost all of the others. Not in the way it looks as much as in the way the people live. Bali is the only island in Indonesia where most of the people still practice the Hindu religion, which they brought with them when they came here more than 1000 years ago. Many of the other islands in Indonesia were Hindu a long time ago, but changed their religion to Islam.  So the people of the small island of Bali have traditions and customs that are completely different than those of the people on the other nearby islands of Indonesia.  There are other countries in the world where many people are Hindu, but the people of Bali have traditions, celebrations, and other ways of practicing their religion that are completely different compared to Hindus in other parts of the world. 

There are lots of holidays and festivals in Bali. When we arrived, they had just  finished celebrating one called "Nyepi". The day before Nyepi, there are huge parades where people carry scary looking monsters. They aren't trying to scare children, but to scare away evil spirits. On the actual day of Nyepi, everyone stays indoors and has to keep very quiet. They are supposed to think about what they want to do and how they want to behave in the next year.

Since Bali is a beautiful tropical island, there are many interesting fish to sea if you go swimming in the ocean. Tom is happy because he went snorkeling and saw some amazing bright colored fish!

People have grown rice for food in Bali for over 1000 years. They still plant and pick the rice by hand, the same way they have always done it.

In Bali, people make offerings of fruit, flowers, and cakes to  take to the temple to be blessed. They make lots of small offerings every day, and they make bigger ones for special occasions and holidays. The women make most of the offerings, but we had a guide who was a man and he secretly told us that he sometimes helps his wife make the  offerings when there are so many to be made that it takes a very long time to make them all!

Here is what the temples look like.

Tom learns how to make a small offering for a temple.

For many years, the people of Bali made simple paintings. When artists from other parts of the  world came here in the last 100 years, they brought new kinds of ink and paint, and the artists of Bali invented some new styles for their art. Now the art from Bali is famous all around the world, and many of the people who live on Bali make art, in addition to doing a job like being a farmer or shopkeeper. 

Tom and Ann took an art class where they learned one of the painting styles that Bali artists use. Here is Tom working on his painting.   

Tom's painting.        Anna's painting.

One of the special customs that is practiced by families in Bali, is to keep a special part of the yard of their house set up as a "Family Shrine". It is a place to remember people in the family who have died.

Dancing is very important in Bali. There are dances that tell important stories, and there is dancing at birthdays, weddings, temple ceremonies, and sometimes just to have a dance show.

We saw many dance processions in the street. This is the beginning of a Barong dance. They have Barong dances all the time. First they parade down the street with the two big costumed animals that will do the dance, then they go inside a temple where the actual dancing happens.

Since they often wear fancy masks during the dances, there are many people who carve masks out of wood. Tom and Ann and their family didn't carve their own masks, but some mask makers showed them how to paint masks that were already carved.

To make music to go along with the dances, they use something called a gamelan. It is a big combination of drums, gongs, and metal xylophones. The gamelan was invented in Bali, and it is still the way that the people make music today. Thomas and Anna got to learn some simple gamelan songs. If they were going to school in Bali, they might be part of a school gamelan band! 

Sometimes instead of having a dance at a wedding or birthday party, the people might watch a Bali shadow puppet show. These puppet shows are called Wayang Kulit. The show is pretty good from in front of the screen, but it is really fun to watch the puppet master and gamelan players behind the screens!