

about
Galungan
The Galungan festival is a celebration of the victory of good over evil. The victory of Dharma over Adharma. It is also when the spirits of the dead descend to earth to visit their relatives and survivors. The Balinese are supposed to welcome these spirits through prayers and offerings in their homes.
Therefore, they also erect Penjors in front of their houses, a prominent feature of the streets during this festival. See below.
Schools are closed for two weeks during the holiday.
Some days during this holiday have their names:
Three days before Galungan: Penyekeban: Cooking bananas for the offerings
Families prepare the bananas, put them in a container, and cover them to speed up their ripening.
Two days before Galungan: Penyajaan: Preparation of rice cakes Jaja to offerings
A time to prepare different colored rice cakes, which are used in offerings and also eaten during the festival itself.
One day before Galungan: Penampahan: Slaughter day
One day before the feast, pigs and chickens are blessed and slaughtered ceremoniously to serve as temple offerings and food during celebrations.
Galungan Day: Praying in temples
This day is the most important during the celebration. Balinese people wear the best traditional clothes they have and pray for their ancestors in temples, reminding themselves that they are part of the beautiful life they live.
People reiterate their commitment to continuously improve and be a better person every day and do everything they can to make tomorrow even better than today.
One day after Galungan: Galungan Manis: Visiting families
Families visit relatives they have not seen for a long time, even in remote parts of the island. You can therefore expect a worsened traffic situation on this day.
Ten days after Galungan: Kuningan: Prayers and offerings, see Kuningan.
11 days after Galungan: Kuningan Manis: Entertainment
On this day, families spend time together in their town or village and enjoy the holiday.
Galungan is celebrated once every 210 days (1 year according to the Balinese calendar Pawukon).
Penjor
These are bent decorated bamboo poles 4 to 10 meters high. Penjors symbolize the human victory in fighting against evil thoughts, negative qualities, and Ego.
Each decorative element of a penjor has its symbolism and contains, among other things, a shrine and a place for offerings. They are also a symbol of prosperity, with the size of the decorations and intricacy of the penjor reflecting the wealth of each dwelling in front of it. Thus, you may see the largest penjors in front of the homes of wealthy people or where several generations of families live and have saved financially. The cost of preparing a penjor exceeds even the higher units of millions of rupiahs, i.e., a penjor can cost as much as USD 500.
Some theories say that the penjor represents the powerful dragon deity Nagas. Naga Anantaboga is symbolic of the earthly needs of humanity, while Naga Basuki represents water, prosperity, and security. According to this theory, the head of the dragon at the base of the penjor is just above a small shrine called Sangah Arda Cahndra. The dragon's tail is the graceful, slender tip of the penjor, and the scales of the dragon's back are represented by ornaments that curve along the back of the penjor.
According to another theory, the upright part of the penjor represents the good in people, and the curved part represents evil. Therefore, this part must be nicely decorated to hide evil. Some then argue that the curved element embodies the bent back as a reminder that even though one can do much, one should still bow down to one's roots and not forget those not so fortunate.
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