Changing times bring color and beauty to religious festival

Changing times bring color and beauty to religious festival

Kadek Suartaya, Contributor, Gianyar

Hundreds of young women paraded from Sukawati village in
Gianyar to a nearby sacred spring carrying colorful offerings and
other ritual paraphernalia.

The village girls looked extremely attractive in their best
traditional costumes, with the glittering gold-thread songket
cloth tightly wrapped around their slim bodies leaving long tails
like wedding attire.

Their angelic faces were made up with white and pink powder,
and eyes accentuated with dark eyeliner, looking like Balinese
dancers. Their heads were fully decorated with fresh flowers,
gold accessories and jewelry.

The long procession of beautiful young women was part of the
village's biggest temple festivities held from May 3 through May
6. Opened by a group of flag carriers, held by hundreds of young
men clad in white and yellow, the procession was aimed at taking
holy water from the springs to be sprinkled throughout the
village to purify the ground, the air and the entire village
area.

It took about three hours to walk from the temple to the
spring. It indeed caused serious traffic jams since Sukawati is
one of the important tourist villages on Bali. Hundreds or maybe
thousands of visitors come to the village daily to buy
handicrafts.

But many foreign as well as domestic tourists really enjoy
this event.

This is one of the significant religious activities where
people can learn how Balinese women wear their traditional
costumes.

Generally, Balinese traditional costumes are divided into
categories depending on the occasion, social status and other
considerations. Busana Agung, lavish and intricate attire is
usually worn by noble families during important occasions such as
wedding ceremonies, tooth filing ceremonies and other significant
rituals.

Busana Madya, middle-level costumes for less important events
and a blend of modern-traditional dresses.

Each regency has its own style but many of them have
similarities. As times change, many people now "violate"
tradition by wearing costumes outside their original function.

At the Ngurah Rai International Airport, for instance, you can
see many young girls clad in Busana Agung to welcome foreign
guests. At some hotels, young girls and men also wear Busana
Agung to greet hotel guests.

The once rare and almost sacred Busana Agung has been worn in
many profane get-togethers.

Money can buy everything and social changes have allowed the
nouveau rich to procure expensive songket and other textiles
previously owned by nobility.

For the Balinese, textiles or wastra, the major element in
Balinese traditional costume, possess rich symbolism. The poleng
(white and black cloth), for instance, symbolizes harmony between
good and evil. Gringsing cloth is believed to possess strong
magical forces. For many centuries, gringsing textiles were only
used for rituals.

In the past, the procession of women looked rather somber with
participants wearing modest clothes, mostly black.

Now, times are changing. Women wear their most expensive lace
kebaya (blouses) over glittering songket for both religious and
daily activities. Wearing expensive clothes is not frowned upon
as long as it is done as part of ritual obligations. Balinese
people dedicate their work and artistic endeavors as ngayah -- to
serve the Almighty.