Bali
Ngaben in Ubud
Ubud is a town in the southern highlands of Bali which has been a popular retreat for many decades for travellers interested in the "real" Bali beyond the beach resorts and nightclubs of Kuta Beach. It was once considered an out-of-the-way hideaway - today, other places on Bali take that crown. Today has become a rather chic place to be, especially for the wealthy shopper. This does not entirely detract from Ubud's charms, though, and I'm always amazed to find just how much has not changed about the place over the years, despite years of tourist development. Breakfast at Murni's over the Campuhan River is still the best way to start the day, and even the old Campuhan Hotel, built in the 1930's is still here. Ubud is renowned for its artisans - chiefly painting (you can see some examples of older Balinese paintings in the Bali Art section of this site). Many of the villages surrounding Ubud are also centres of art, often specialising in a specific artform, such as wood carving in the village of Mas.
A Ngaben is the Balinese term for the funerary celebration, and this occurs approximately every 3 years. Are the Balinese so organised that they leave this mortal coil in unison? No, it's because they inter their deceased temporarily without a full ceremony until the next big day comes around, and then have a big ngaben every 3 years or so to handle the back-log.
All strata of Balinese society takes part (naturally enough, as the grim reaper escapes no one), with elaborate effigies for royalty, smaller pyres for the middle castes, right down to a what amounts to "tossing the body on a campfire" for the lowest castes. Effigies for the higher castes are prepared for many weeks in advance, and finished off with fresh flowers and other offerings on the morning of the big day.The photograph on the right shows an elaborate Barong decoration for a high caste effigy.
In Ubud, the proceedings begin with a parade through the middle of town. Dancers and gamalan musicians accompany the bearers of the effigies. All the overhead electricity and telephone wires are taken down 
along the route of the procession for the occasion; they would otherwise interfere with the tallest of the effigies. The streets are thronged with people - not only inhabitants of Ubud, but also from all the surrounding villages, and of course there are always foreigners in town, who, like us, may have been unaware that this big event was going to coincide with their journey.
In order to ward off evil spirits, the effigy bearers swing their payload about wildly as they go along - so wildly at times that it seemed like the whole lot was going to topple down into the surrounding crowds. It is worth noting at this point that the effigies do not yet contain the corpse; this is carried separately directly to the ngaben grounds and loaded into the effigy just before it is set alight. This is a relief, because all that swinging about would surely jettison the contents were they loaded in for the procession! 
After at least an hour of this, the effigies are finally brought to the ngapen grounds on the outskirts of town. The families then help to load the coffin containing the departed relative into the effigy, while a priest performs the appropriate rites. Finally, a family member sets the whole thing ablaze. Despite the fact that many independent ceremonies are being held simultaneously, it all seems coordinated, with each stage being conducted more or less in unison.
While the spectator focus was mainly on the elaborate high-cast pyres (right), the simple fires of the lowest caste pyres were situated in a row off to one side of the 
proceedings, tended to by one or two family members each. These pyres consist of a rack - to be frank, much like a saté grille - upon which the wrapped body is placed. The fire is lit below, and a strong air blower is directed at the fire to make it burn very hotly. Naturally, within minutes, the outer wrapping of the body is burnt away, and one observes a row of bony feet sticking out from the end of each fire. I felt a little too inhibited to take a photograph of that, despite being encouraged by many of the family members to do so. These rites are not at all a sad occasion for the relatives, at least not outwardly so; they seem to genuinely enjoy the occasion, and partying goes on well into the night, long after the final embers have been gathered up and placed into jars. The next morning, the jars are taken to the sea side, and the ashes scattered in the ocean.
