Holy row colors Balinese wedding package

By Putu Wirata

DENPASAR (JP): A young wedding couple walked elegantly from the padmasana, the worship place for Balinese Hindus, at the Agung Rai Museum in Ubud, Bali.

At first glance they looked like a Balinese bridal couple. They were shaded by umbrellas painted silver and gold and escorted by traditionally-clad Balinese, including a Hindu priest. Their fair skin, attire and the genuine trappings of a Balinese marriage ceremony augmented the effect.

In fact, they were Japanese tourists who had paid for the opportunity to marry in the temple.

Accompanied by Balinese gamelan, they paraded to Cafe Arma in the museum compound for a reception with about a dozen of their Japanese friends. A dancing troupe performed the lenong dance.

"I enjoy Balinese customs and culture and wish to remember them," the groom said after the ceremony last month. He added that they married in their homeland but had chosen Bali as the site of the reception because he felt a sense of peace after several visits to the island.

The couple was the second tourist pair to take marriage vows at the Agung Rai Museum. Similar wedding packages, in slightly different form, have existed for years. PT Wedding International organizes wedding reception services with a Balinese ambience in hotels. There is also the Belayu Wedding Party Program in Denpasar which offers wedding services according to Balinese customs.

Yet nobody would have predicted the outcry which ensued when local media reported on the package. Ida Bagus Wijaya Kusuma, chairman of Bali's Hindu Council, said the package should be discontinued as it might destroy the sanctity of traditional Hindu ceremonies.

Bali Governor Ida Bagus Oka threatened to issue warnings to the operators for contravening a regional regulation on cultural tourism. The fines for those found guilty are negligible, ranging between Rp 30,000 (US$12.50) and Rp 50,000 ($21).

In Bali, religion, custom and culture are one in inseparable unity. Balinese Hinduism, a synthesis of old Balinese animism and the later Majapahit Hindu beliefs, is basically very open to people of other faiths. They may visit Hindu temples to meditate and pray. Hindu soothsayers in Bali also accept many non-Hindu patients.

Operators argue that making the marriage ceremony available to foreigners and non-Hindus does not impinge on its holiness.

Anak Agung Rai, owner of the Agung Rai Museum, says the package offers the ambience of a reception at Cafe Arma plus Balinese culture. "The package is not sold in retail form like ordinary commodities. It concerns culture. We make the offer. If they accept it, it means they respect and love Balinese culture."

Although the event includes priests, dancers, offerings, and takes place in a temple, Agung Rai says it is not technically a genuine Balinese Hindu wedding.

"They only wish to have the blessings of the holy and magic soil of Bali for an everlasting and happy marriage," he says. "Isn't it the case that from the olden days the Balinese culture and custom have been open and foreigner-friendly as long as they are sincere and respectful?"

He said Hindu temples in Ubud often receive foreigners in traditional Balinese dress who pray according to their own religious beliefs, then receive a blessing with holy water from the priest. The local community has never objected to the visits, he added.

Ketut Wiana, deputy chairman of the central Hindu Council, confirmed that in the 1980s a discussion was held on the appropriateness of Hindu wedding packages for foreigners. Present at the meeting were members of the Hindu Council, the Council for Supporting Customs Institute (MPLA) and representatives of the Hindu religion.

They decided to prohibit non-Hindus from marrying according to Hindu doctrines unless they converted to Hinduism through the sudi wedani ceremony.

Agung Rai disagrees with the ruling. "We have no intention to go that far. We do not wish to proselytize. It would not be acceptable to give ritual blessings to a foreign wedding couple in the pemerajan (family temple) or the Kahyangan Tiga (temples in the traditional village). But I think there is no problem if the ritual is carried out in the museum temple like padmasana."

The crux of the issue may be found in recounting the harmonious reception accorded Sekarjaya, a Balinese arts group from San Francisco, when they performed at the Natarsari temple in Tabanan in 1994. The musicians, wearing Balinese dress, prayed at the temple altar and were blessed by a Hindu priest, similar to the procedures of the wedding package.

Yet the event garnered widespread coverage free of criticism. The reason may be that the visit of the troupe, unlike the marketing of the wedding package, was not a money-making venture.