Temples, Temples, Temples

It is easy to get templed out in Bali.  Hopefully we have put in the right amount of temples in for this trip. 

We visited Tirta Empul which is very old and considered very holy.  The water is from the mountains and is very clean!  People come from all over to participate in the purification ritual from the spring water. Leaving was a challenge walking through the gauntlet of sellers!

Further north along the shores of Lake Beratan is Ulun Danu Beratan Temple.  This is a beautiful spot with enormous brilliant flowers and a temple in the lake.  The light rain and rolling thunder only added to the beauty of this place.  According to Lena this is one of the most popular temples for tourists, both international and domestic to visit.  It is pretty easy to understand why!

Taman Ayun Temple is one of the oldest temples and is the royal temple for this region.  Another beautiful setting with hundreds and hundreds of lotus flowers.  It has pagoda like structures representing the mountains.  This is another one of Bali’s UNESCO sites.

Tanah Lot is a very famous temple perched on the shores of the Indian Ocean.  With waves crashing against it, the temple is an amazing site.  If the tide is out it is possible to walk over to the temple. Unfortunately the rain came just as we arrived!

Tanah lot on a clear day

Local Rituals

After our Campuhan Ridge walk we were fortunate enough to visit a local family’s home where we learned the traditional way the home is organized.  

That was followed by learning how to put together an offering and participate in the prayer that follows.  The palm leaves make the small baskets and each color then has a specific spot and meaning. Depending on the home as many as 50 offerings a day might be put out.  Once our offerings were made Lena, our wonderful guide, lead us through the prayer. We were then blessed with holy water and rice on our heads and throats before placing our offerings in front of the temple. The rice signifies good thoughts and good heart.

Balinese coffee and traditional cakes were served.  There were 3 different cakes all from a rice base and prepared in different ways.  Very sweet but delicious cakes!

The offering making was a great introduction to our visit to a holy springs temple for a purification. Most of us participated in the ceremony.  After changing into traditional sarongs with sashes we visited the priest and were led through the prayer that we had been shown the day before.  It was then time to enter the pools where we visited the 12 different gods repeating the same process - hands in pray position, splash water on face 3 times, then 3 times on the head and finally step under the tap for water over the head at each station. After this was done we then visited the priest again for holy water, rice and a bracelet.

The ceremony is called a purification ceremony and is intended to clean out the negative energy.  It was an amazing process to go through - i was so impressed how receptive and welcoming the local people are to allowing tourists into this part of their life.