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The Balinese people's lives are communual. They have organizations
of village, farming and creative arts. The banjar is the community
organization that arranges all village meetings, festivals, and
ceremonies. Most villages have at least one banjar. The other community
organization is the Subak, which oversees the production of rice
and organizes the complex irigation system. The members of the Subak
are those who own padi fields. The Subak will ensure that every
member gets his fair distribution of irigation water.
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The Weather
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| Bali has a short, hot and wet season and a
longer, cooler dry season. The mountains are humid throughout the
year, averaging 2,500 to 3,000 mm ( 100 t0 200 inches) of rainfall
annually, with warm days and coolest nights. The rainy season lasts
from November to March, the dry seasons is from April to October. |
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The Fruit
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| Bali has a rich volcanic soil and healty monsoon
season that makes this island extremly fertile. A wide variety of
tropical fruits are grow here including bananas, which are mainly
used in offering, mangos, papayas, pinapples, oranges, rambutans,
mangosteen, durians, and guavas. |
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Wildlife
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| The forest in Bali is protected in a nature
reserve and is a haven for a wide range of animals and birds, especially
the endangered Bali Starling ( Rothchid's Myna) that can only be found
in Bali. Another rare species in Bali is the wild Javan buffalo (
Bos Javanicus). Other mammals here include deer, leopards, civets,
macaques and several other species of monkey. Bali boats around 300
different bird species, including migrants, from massive hornbills
and storks to tynu sunbirds and spider hunters. |
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Culture
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| The Balinese people have strong spiritual
roots and despite the large influx of tourists over the years, Balinese
culture is still very much alive. The main religion is Hindu, but
although originally from India, the Balinese Hindu is a unique blend
of Hindu, Buddhist, Javanese and ancient indigenous beliefs. The Balinese
people are naturally creative and their talents are traditional used
for religious purpose. The majority of Bali's 3 million people live
in tight village communities with large extended families. |
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Ceremonies
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| Balinese life is a life of ritual and devotion.
The porpose of every ritual is to cleanse object and people. There
are five ritual categories, the so-called yadnya. These are dewa yadnya
which carries out rites to honor the divinities, bhuta yadnya which
carries out rites to appease evil forces, manusa yadnya the life-cycle
rites to ensure a person's spiritual and material well-beeing, resi
yadnya to ordain priests, and pitra yadnya rites for the ancestors.
Some of the better-known Balinese rituals include the tooth-filling
ceremony, an example of manusa yadnya and the cremation ceremony,
which is a from of pirtra yadnya. |
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