Mon 9 Feb, 2009
Bali and covered statues!!
Sheralynn with a woman in traditional Balinese costume
These pictures are from our trip to Bali over the Christmas holiday. We went for a week and we enjoyed incredible hospitality and kid-friendly Balinese people. We were impressed right away with how different Bali felt from Jakarta. It still has many people, but the main religion in Bali is Hindu. These people are faithful in putting up statues and covering them in cloths. They type of covering lets you know what god it is that the statue represents. In addition, the Balinese are VERY faithful about the fragrant offerings to the statues. Every morning we watched women go out to the street and offer sweet smelling flowers and incense to the statues. Even cars had small offerings in them.
Bali is known as an exotic get away, but I’m not sure that it completely lives up to its reputation. There is plenty to do and the prices can’t be beat. It is very much like the rest of Indonesia- slightly undone, somewhat broken. The people there, however, are certainly worth meeting and if you are a surfer you will have found a little bit of heaven!!
Crosswire Designs says:
It is always interesting to me to observe the various ways that participants in other religions pay tribute to their ‘gods’. I don’t know if you remember the big chinese buffet in Cave Springs, but like Buddhist Chinese, they have a little room right off of the entrance that is closed off by a louvred door. On occasions I’ve see this open, and they have a statue set up in there with a sand pit before it with incense sticks stuck into it. When I was dating Sean, he explained that the Chinese people have four of these statues, each representing some ‘good thing’. The one in the restaurant is the one I recognize as symbolizing ‘wealth and prosperity’, so I imagine it makes sense that the proprietors would be paying tribute to that entity in their place of business.
I find that sort of thing both encouraging and depressing at the same time. On one hand, the fact that every culture seems to have its own entity (even the athiests, whose diety of choice is mankind) just underscores the inherent knowledge of God that we were taught exists in our hearts. However, it is sad to see the knowledge applied in the wrong direction, too. It makes me all the more proud to know you and support what you’re doing over there.