Culture Archives

PANCASILA CELEBRATION

1 June 2020/in Bali, Culture, Dajuma, News

Since President Joko Widodo decided in 2016 to establish June 1st as an official public holiday aimed at celebrating the 5 principles of the Pancasila , all institutions of Indonesia are holding special events on this occasion. Pancasila means in sanscrit “Five” (Panca) “Principles” (Sila). It is the official and foundational philosophy of Indonesia based indeed on 5 principles edicted in 1945 by President Sukarno’s in his famous speech “The Birth of Pancasila”.
June 1st is also the restart of all domestic commercial flights, some of them having already restarted in May.
A good opportunity to take a break in the stressful period of the pandemic which definitively shows a slow down everywhere.
Dajuma is open and ready to welcome you anytime!

NYEPI NOT AS USUAL THIS YEAR

30 March 2020/in Bali, Culture, News

On March 25th, took place in Bali the famous Nyepi, the sacred and peaceful day of silence that welcomes the Saka New Year in the Balinese calendar. Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflection, and as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The main restrictions are no lighting fires (and lights must be kept low); no working; no entertainment or pleasure; no traveling; and, for some, no talking or eating at all.
This year, Nyepi takes on a new dimension with the coronavirus pandemic. It’s like the whole world is celebrating Nyepi as well, by staying at home and spending time on self-reflection. In Bali a lot of celebrations and gatherings have been disrupted such as Melasti (purifying ceremony) and Pengerupukan, a day before, which is finished by doing Pecaruan (a ritual to neutralize negative spirits) and Ogoh-Ogoh parade. All those rituals usually involve mass participants, but this year all the rituals were restricted (the number of participants cannot be more than 10, only the priest and some village committee members who must keep the physical distancing), and the other prayed at home. Due to Covid 19 the Bali governor instructed to extend one of the restriction on the day after, people were not allowed to travel and must stay at home. Our traditional vows of good health take on particular relief on this occasion. May the pandemic so violent in the world, ends soon. Happy and Healthy Nyepi!

A “WAYANG KULIT” SHOW TO CELEBRATE KETUT

3 February 2020/in Culture, Dajuma, News, West Bali

2 weeks ago, a very unusual event happened in Medewi village, close to Dajuma. Our friend and colleague Rondy, GM in charge of Sales and Marketing in our team, is the happy new father of a young boy called Ketut. The birth of a boy after 3 girls was so expected by the family that Rondy’s father accomplished his wish by inviting in the village the famous wayang kulit group Ceng Blong lead by the no less famous puppeteer I Wayan Nardayana. He is renowned in all Bali for his unique Wayang Kulit show, mixing pieces borrowed from the Ramayana and topical subjects, all in a very dynamic and sometimes very funny dialogues. On this occasion, the main road of the village was cut, the traffic being reoriented by the police. Hundreds of villagers were happy to share the joy of Rondy’s family by assisting to the show. The picture shows these typical wayang kulit silhouettes so inspiring for us, westerners. Congratulations to Rondy and his family for this beautiful moment of sharing!

ANNUAL JEGOG FESTIVAL AT RAMBUT SIWI

9 December 2019/in Culture, Dancing - Music, News, West Bali

One of the Jembrana’s annual event is the Jegog Festival which was held this year over 3 days, from December 3rd to 5th.
Jegog is a form of gamelan music indigenous to Bali, played on instruments made of bamboo. Born in West Bali in the 1920’s in a small village close to Dajuma, it has started to become popular in other regions of Bali and even abroad in Japan, Germany and the US.
The annual festival aims at preserving, developing and fostering Jegog as a cultural object of prime importance. It is a unique traditional music as a symbol of creativity and the original identity of Jembrana people and culture. This year, the festival agenda was particularly heavy with the participation of 84 Jegog groups from all around Jembrana (including school groups) and 2,520 artists. Hundreds of visitors, including our guests, enjoyed the exhibitions of the forms and types of Jegog and listened their unique sounds. Seminars attended by jegog artists, cultural figures, creators and observers of the Jegog also took place. On the last day, mass Jegog staging (Jegog Mebarung) accompanied by the performance of Joged Dance shown on the picture closed the festival.

EVENT OF THE WEEK IN PEKUTATAN: HINDU STUDENTS GATHERING

11 November 2019/in Culture, Jembrana, News, Pekutatan, People, West Bali

The Jembrana Hindu Youth Communication Forum held an event entitled “Hindu Students Gathering”. All the Junior High Schools (public schools) in Jembrana delegated their students (male and female) to participate in this event. It took place at Satria Mandala Stadium in Pekutatan, 10 minutes from Dajuma, from November 7th to 10th, 2019 with the participation of 200 students. Each group built a beautiful and well decorated tent. This event had a lot of competitive activities such as traditional games, preparation of Hindu ceremonies, cooking traditional cuisine, Balinese decoration, Balinese story-telling, painting, writing Balinese letters in sanscrit, art performances, etc. In front of the tent of each group, they also prepared a small exhibition of local handicraft. This event aims at fostering the preservation of Balinese culture in all Hindu students, in particular two major features of hinduism which are love and responsibility. Using our free shuttle service, one of our guest, Birgit visited this event. She was happy to meet the students and discover their creativity and commitment to Hinduism. Well done guys!

NEW BUFFALO RACE EVENT

21 October 2019/in Culture, Jembrana, News, Tours, West Bali

Would you like to live an amazing experience with Dajuma? It is about the famous buffalo races called Mekepung, typical of West Bali. Jembrana and some other areas in Bali try to develop tourism from their village potential attractions. This is what the community do in Manistutu Village (one of the village in West Bali, Jembrana). They decided to promote a new version of Mekepung called Mekepung Lampit, where the race takes place not on a special track made of sand but in the mud, in the rice field exactly. It aims to show that Mekepung was originally inspired by the farmer activity in the rice field. This new event is planned to be held regularly next year.
We already announced the 2019 schedule in our February post. Since then, 2 major competitions took place. The last one will be on November 17th, crowned by the Jembrana Regent’s Cup. Imagine a circular 500 meters circuit in the middle of the rice fields where especially trained buffalos are driven by local farmers riding traditional wooden ploughs just slightly modified. Each event last around 5 hours from the preparation up to the bathing of the buffalos in the sea (or river) after the competition. This is what is shown on the picture where our guests, family Cummings from the USA, shared this rare moment with the local villagers. The next season will start in the middle of July 2020 but in between, there will be some training sessions. Welcome anytime!

WOOD CARVING ART IN BALI

30 September 2019/in Bali, Culture, Dajuma, News

Wood carving is one of the ancestral art praticed in Bali by skilled carvers trained in numerous schools in the island.
In Pekutatan, we are lucky enough to have some of them happy to share their know-how with our guests once a week, for an unforgettable “wood carving experience”. This is what happened this week to Anne and Maja from Sweden who were able to carve their names by themselves under the attentive guidance of the master carver Gede Budiarsa. A good memory of Bali to be brought back home!

KUKUL ANOTHER INTERESTING TRADITION OF BALINESE CULTURE

2 September 2019/in Culture, News

Kulkul is a traditional communication tool of the Balinese people. It is a big wooden bell installed at the top of decorated towers erected in the middle of each village in Bali. Inherited from the ancestors one can find it in every traditional organization in Bali. It is used like an alarm for Balinese people and, depending on the number of strikes on the bell, has different meanings such as invitations to regular meetings of the villagers, ceremony preparations or natural disasters. Besides having a role in the lives of Balinese people, Kulkul is also used in smaller size, as a musical instrument in several art performances. This is what is shown on the picture this week. Dajuma is used to organise entertainments combining traditional Balinese music (Jegog) and dances. At the end of the show, our guests are invited to come on stage and play the Kukul instrument with our musicians. They love it!

How the villagers of Pekutatan celebrate Independence Day

19 August 2019/in Bali, Culture, Dajuma, Jembrana, News, Pekutatan

In August, all Indonesia is keen to comemorate the independence day. Many funny activities were held on this occasion. Having no desire to break with this fine tradition, Pekutatan Village held its own activities, prepared and organised by its villagers. Few days before the independence day, there are some funny games, gate decoration competition using only natural material, Balinese dances performances and many more (see on picture). On August 17th was the formal flag ceremony, with the participation of students from the local schools based in Pekutatan, government officials, police, army and villagers representatives. This year, all the participants of flag ceremony were wearing Balinese traditional dress based on the instruction of the Bali Governor.

BALI MORE BALINESE

12 August 2019/in Bali, Culture, News

Part of the large Indonesia and its 279 Million inhabitants, welcoming 4 millions foreigners every year, one’s may fear that the small island of Bali could be losing step by step its brilliant culture and traditions.
This was before the new Bali’s Governor, Wayan KOSTER was elected last June, and made it clear that his administration intends to bring Bali back to its cultural roots, which is now effective through several decrees.
Changes are visible from anyone in Bali after applying these two:
N° 79/2018 Decree regarding customary Balinese Dress use stipulates that people working in Bali should don traditional wear every Thursday.
Same requirement during full moon (Purnama Day), new moon (Tilem Day), anniversary of Bali Province, regency anniversary days, and city anniversaries.
The island’s indigenous langage is traditionally written with an elaborate Brahmic-derived script natively known as Aksara Bali and Hanacaraka. Used in ceremonies and religious texts, the traditional script is deeply tied to Balinese Hindu practices.
“I think Balinese letters, Balinese text is in our identity, a symbol of our civilization” he said.
In accordance with Decree n° 80/2018, Balinese script will be written alongside Latin writing in public facilities, including our hotel as shown on the picture with the new signage on the road.
Many opportunities to enjoy the graceful « Udeng » on men head and women « Kebaya », and remember the Balinese long History through its everywhere writing.
On the picture taken in Dajuma garden, besides our colorful Jegog music instrument, some of our staff proud to wear the traditional Balinese dressing every thursday. From left to right, Dina, Alit, Kadek, Gusalit and Erly.