Ubud holds peace and unity festival after bomb attack

Ubud holds peace and unity festival after bomb attack

Damaso Reyes, Contributor, Ubud, Bali

For the first time since a series of bomb blasts shook the
heart of Bali, the cafes and restaurants of Ubud were full.

Tourists could be seen wandering up and down the back roads of
this mountain retreat and the main streets bustled with activity.

For two days over the weekend Balinese, expatriates and
tourists came together in what they called a celebration of peace
and unity. The festival, included music, performances as well as
art exhibitions.

Local hotels and restaurants offered discounts from 15 percent
to 50 percent in an attempt to lure back some of the visitors
both foreign and domestic who fled the island in the wake of the
terrorist attack on Oct. 12.

What was intended to be a small gathering for the local
community quickly grew in size and scale as word spread.

Thousands of people, expatriates as well as Balinese joined in
a procession from the nearby village of Peliatan to the soccer
field in Ubud where they were welcomed by several thousand more
who had come for the ceremonies and music to be held there.

Poetry, dance and local performers were prominently featured
in the two day fair.

The festival was not only conceived as a tribute to peace and
unity but as an opportunity for the local community to cleanse
itself from the effects of the bombing last month.

Christians, Muslims as well as Hindus participated in several
ceremonies held over the length of the festival.

After a series of prayers and invocations, a group of doves
were released into the early evening sky of the first night, a
symbol of the harmony that the participants were trying to
exhibit.

"We are still here together living in peace and harmony, this
was our way of showing that to the world and the terrorists,"
said Nyoman Suradnya, owner of a local home stay and batik center
as well as one of the event organizers. "This is the wrong soil
for terrorists to grow in," he added.

The aftermath of the bombs in Kuta had a profound effect on
this small community, considered by many who come here from
abroad as the heart and soul of Bali.

Hundreds of expatriates and Balinese came together,
volunteering time and money for the bombing victims and to help
organize the festival.

Nyoman tells the story of an elderly village man who wished to
donate money for the festival. He peered into the headquarters of
the organizers hesitantly, as if he wasn't sure he should enter.

Finally Nyoman came to him and asked how he could help him.

The grandfather replied that he wanted to give some money but
that he was embarrassed because it was in his words "very
little."

Nyoman assured him that his donation was needed and
appreciated. The village man took a small roll of money and one
by one he unfurled ten weathered and wrinkled one thousand rupiah
notes.

"To see all these different people working together really
moved me as a Balinese," Nyoman said. "We all worked so closely
together I think because we were all struck by the same arrow,"
he added.

As the investigation which has already netted one suspect
continues, Balinese and Indonesians throughout the archipelago
continue the healing process from the nation's worst ever
terrorist attack.

While it may be months or years before tourism comes back to
pre-attack levels, the local communities of Bali are proceeding
with their lives and the more hearty foreign visitors are taking
advantage of the huge discounts and empty streets to enjoy a Bali
that hasn't been seen in many years.