Chinese-Balinese expect Year of the Goat to bring prosperity
Chinese-Balinese expect Year of the Goat to bring prosperity
The Jakarta Post, Denpasar, Bali
On Jan. 26, the Chinese community in the predominantly Hindu Bali
began a week-long celebration for the Chinese New Year, known
here as Imlek, to welcome the Year of the Goat.
There are no official statistics on the size of the Chinese
community in Bali, but it is understood that it has been
increasing rapidly since l998 when Chinese-Indonesians from
Jakarta and Surabaya fled to Bali to escape anti-Chinese riots in
Java.
I Bagus Adnyana, a religious official at the Chinese Dwipayana
Temple in Kuta, expects thousands of worshipers on New Year's
Eve, which falls on Jan. 31. "They will come from around Bali and
Java," he said.
A ceremony held last Sunday at the temple to kick off the
celebrations was aimed at getting rid of evil spirits. All of the
statues and figurines representing Chinese gods and goddesses
were cleaned up.
"During the New Year, our ancestors' spirits, gods and
goddesses will visit their homes on earth. Therefore, we should
clean up temples and houses," Adnyana said.
On Wednesday night, the Dwipayana Temple held a special lion
dance (barongsai) and dragon dance (liong) as part of its
celebrations.
"We burned a barongsai mask as a sacrifice to purify both the
macrocosmic and microcosmic world," Adnyana said.
Events to celebrate Imlek are being held at a number of major
Chinese temples, locally called kongco or klenteng, in Tanjung
Benoa, near Benoa Harbor, and Blahbatu in Batubulan Gianyar, 15
kilometers south of Denpasar.
The Chinese community has long been accepted by the majority
Balinese community. Many ethnic Chinese, now regarded as Chinese-
Balinese, have converted to Hinduism and adopted Balinese names.
Yet, they still retain their Chinese ancestral traditions.
Sri Hartani, a businesswoman from Singaraja, North Bali, said
that her family, nieces, cousins and neighbors planned to hold a
special prayer and dinner on the Chinese New Year's Eve.
"We will prepare the best family dishes, heaps of fruits and
flower offerings as a sign of our gratitude for all the divine
blessings over the past year," Hartani said.
On New Year's Day on Feb. 1, many Chinese-Indonesians in Bali
will visit several Chinese temples around Bali, notably in
Denpasar, Kuta, Nusa Dua, Blahbatuh in Gianyar regency, and some
in Singaraja, Bali's port city, where the first Chinese migrants
arrived.
A number of tour organizers are offering special tours of
Chinese temples in Bali during the Chinese New Year.
Setiadi, a freelance tour guide, said the packages targeted
Chinese-Indonesians from Central and East Java.
Historically, Bali has had a special relationship with China
since the first Chinese immigrants arrived on the island in the
seventh century.
The Chinese migrants brought Chinese culture to their new home
and blended it with the local culture. The Chinese influence on
Balinese culture has been profound. This influence is still
vividly visible in many temple decorations, Chinese porcelains,
traditional dances and costumes (the barong, for example),
religious offerings (Chinese coins), folklore and mythology.
Historians from the Bali Museum believe commercial and
cultural contact between Bali and China has been taking place as
far back as the Tang Dynasty in China, around 618 A.D. to 904
A.D.
I Nyoman Wijaya, a noted historian from Udayana University in
Denpasar, has documented the Chinese population in Bali. He
theorizes that the Chinese arrived in Bali during three main
periods -- the ancient period, the Dutch colonial period and the
present day.
The first Chinese traders are believed to have come to Bali to
trade with Javanese and Balinese kingdoms between the 7th and 9th
centuries. The second wave of Chinese migrants came to Bali as
slaves and traders during the Dutch colonial period, between the
18th and 19th centuries.
"Many of them were artists, architects, medical people and
traders," Wijaya wrote. Chinese artists and traditional healers
easily mingled with the locals but not the traders, he said. The
influence of Chinese art has been strong on the Balinese painting
style, including the use of Chinese ink and objects.
Local scholars have much evidence of the Chinese community in
Bali in the distant past.
Chinese coins are the most immediately visible sign of Chinese
influence in Bali. The coins, known as pis bolong (coin with a
hole in the center), were not used as a means of legal tender but
they are used in ceremonies. The pis bolong is regarded as a
symbol of wealth and prosperity, so during every ritual the
Balinese always use these coins.
Another piece of evidence is the presence of ornate Chinese
porcelain in royal palaces and prominent Hindu temples in Bali.
Although not as important or as common as the coins, Chinese
plates -- from as early as the 9th century Sung Dynasty -- have
been found all over Bali, along with porcelain from Korea, Japan
and Europe. The plates and other household utensils were
previously used for ceremonial purposes, writes Fred B. Eisman
Jr. in his book Bali Sekala and Niskala.
He also noted an interesting and little known example of
Chinese culture in Bali, embodied in the Baris Cina dance. There
are dozens of varieties of the baris dance performed during
religious ceremonies in Hindu temples. These dances have no
connection with any of the Chinese temples.
Balinese oral literature/folklore, legends and stories also
reveal clues about the presence of the Chinese community in Bali.
One story says that the thousands of dogs roaming Bali's streets
and villages have their origin in China. The story goes that the
first dog in Bali was brought by a Chinese princess who resided
in Kintamani, north Bali.