Tourists join 'Kuningan' celebration

Tourists join 'Kuningan' celebration

DENPASAR, Bali: Hundreds of foreign tourists joined the Hindu
celebration of Kuningan at Sakenan Temple in Serangan
subdistrict, 15 kilometers south of Denpasar.

The ceremony, conducted once every 210 days, was held to
celebrate the victory of dharma (the good) over adharma (the
bad).

Wearing predominantly yellow Balinese clothes, foreign
tourists joined the thousands of Balinese people taking sesajen
(offerings) to the temple.

People wanting to watch the religious ceremony were obliged to
pay between Rp 1,000 and Rp 2,000 as an entrance fee to Serangan
island, which has been connected through a reclamation project
carried out by the local administration.

Hundreds of predominantly Muslim Bugis, whose ancestors
settled in the subdistrict hundreds of years ago, also cooperated
with the local Hindu committee to prepare the celebration.

Bugis people said Muslim and Hindu adherents in the
subdistrict had cooperated for many years to promote tolerance
among the local religious communities. --Antara