Wednesday August 11th

DONNA Definitely the day I will remember most from the trip. Putu picked us up at noon to go to his village, where they were celebrating Gulangan Day. Gulangan Day has the importance of Christmas here, and instead of decorating Christmas trees, families put "dragons" outside of their houses. A "Dragon" is a high bamboo pole that droops into a hook shape at the top and they all form a sort of canopy on the side streets. First we drove back to the town of Ubud, where we walked around and had a lunch of some of our favorite Indonesian dishes. Then we went to Putu's house, where he lives with his mother and father. He had a pile of sarongs for us, and dressed us all in traditional sarongs so that we could all attend the ceremonies. We were running late, so we ran out to the street and Putu told us to stand in one place, wait until the end of the parade, and then follow along and meet him at the other end (whatever that mean). We heard the drums and cymbals in the distance, and the parade approached. The men were dressed in traditional Balinese costume (as was Putu) and walked on the street in a procession, either carrying the giant gold dragon, wearing other costumes, playing an instrument, or just marching together. Along the way, people set up offerings outside their homes....straw mats or baskets with different fruits and cakes for the Gods as the parade came by. Women walked with children and baskets of offerings on their heads. They were all heading to the village temple. After the procession went by, as Putu suggested, we followed behind. There were hundreds of people, and we were right in the middle of it. We didn't feel in the least bit uncomfortable or nervous. In fact I would have felt far more nervous walking in a crowd this size in Philadelphia. Allison commented that some of the other kids were looking at her, and she saw what it felt like to be the foreigner. And in Jenna's note, she says that other kids were laughing at her. Actually I don't think they were, I think it was curiosity, since many of these children have been in the same village since they were born. I was happy to hear her notice this, one of the life lessons I hoped the kids would learn on the trip. Good for the kids to realize what it feels like to be the foreigner. We followed to the temple and watched the ceremony and blessings. It was all really beautiful. The air was filled with incense, everything was decorated so nicely. What an experience. After the ceremony, Putu met us and took us back to his main family compound, where his aunts, uncles and cousins live. A family compound is a few hut-like sleeping areas, the food/preparation area, a yard, and a family temple. Interesting that Balinese do not sit down to organized meals, they just eat when they are hungry. They have enough rituals that bring the family together; they don't need mealtime to do it. At the compound, one of his uncles climbed up a tree to get us some coconuts, and we sat on the grass as the sun went down and ate and drank our coconuts as the sun went down at Putu's family compound. Wonderful day.

FamilyGulanganPutusHouse Originally uploaded by DonnaM123.