Our tour guide explained to us that in their Hindu believes it is selfish to want more than what your parent's had. I'm sure this belief is somehow connected to their still very active caste system that dictates how people are treated, dress and even what their names will be. Just by learning someone's name in Bali, one already knows their sex, class and birth order. In Bali, taxi drivers are the self-made millionaires of these small villages (Imagine that!). However, this did not sit well with this particular village and made them so upset that they banished these millionaire drivers from their village (but remember children belong to the village, so they had to leave their children). It took a few years, but eventually the village agreed to welcome them back only if they built temples and houses that would be pleasing to the Gods. This was one of those houses.
Probably our favorite, and what we found to be the most interesting part of their culture, was their ceremony performed when a teenager becomes an adult. We didn't get to see this actual ceremony, which I am bit relieved about, but our guide explained it all to us in detail. As every culture knows, teenagers can be a bit much to handle at times. In Balinese culture, a teenagers' unruly and moody behavior can only be explained by one thing - Demons! - The teenager must be possessed by demons! I'm sure some American parents could relate to the Balinese on this one. Anyway, every teenager at some point will be possessed by demons and thus require this ceremony to make the demons depart. First, holy men must be summoned and they do their usual drinking, singing and gambling, just as they do at every ceremonial event, to set the mood. As they become more and more inebriated, and as the chanting and singing grow louder and louder, it is time to drive the demons out. Booze are wafted under the teenager's nose, loud laughter and singing continues and finally, a young virgin girl comes to entice the demon out of the teenager. It does not matter if the teenager is a girl or a boy, because demons are all male. The girl will dance and use the "come hither" finger until the demon has been released. The young virgin girl will then escort the demon out of the courtyard and close the gate behind her (because apparently demons cannot penatrate little picket fences) then run around the house a few times for good measure. The final part of the ritual is the most painful, and the one that every Balinese we talked to can vividly recall. A large, metal, construction-like file is placed at the base of the teenager's six front six and then yanked back and forth. Every Balinese person that we talked to, when asked about the "teeth filling ceremony" responded with hisses and ahhh's of pain. It's believed that the cuspid teeth are pointy because of the demons and therefore require filling for full transformation from teenager to adult. I'm glad in America we just get to drive and vote and stuff...
Along the tour we picked up a few stragglers that McKay and I had some fun playing pretend gun battles with. They loved watching McKay keel over and die.
BANG!
Of course they won!
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