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Cremations come in all shapes and sizes in Bali, but whether big, little
or economy size - whether a recent corpse, a mummified body or a handful
of disinterred bones - they always rate star billing - because in an island
famed for festivals, there is no occasion as festive as a cremation.
Unlikely Bear with
me and all will be clear.
To understand the mood of a cremation, you need to know
something of the religion behind it. A cremation is not a pious parting.
It is a joyful re-cycling of the soul - a bon voyage party Speeding the
spirit from here to eternity For the Balinese believe that the soul is
earthbound until freed from the imprisoning body by fire.
Picture a jet-setter arriving at an airport, unable to find his passport,
and then the joy when a relative rushes up with the missing papers. There
you have a situation paralleling a cremation.
The soul is ready, willing but not able to travel until given its fiery
farewell. .1
It is therefore the happy duty of the relatives to light a fire under
him and get him mobile.
The ritual for a cremation is elaborate and involved, but calls
for certain basic ingredients, including funerary pieces prepared by expert
craftsmen: the tower to transport the body to the cremation ground and
the animal sarcophagus to transport the soul to Paradise.
The tower, usually the more elaborate structure, can rise to a height
of over 50-metres. Built on a base representing the cosmos, topped with
a many-tiered roof, and decorated lavishly with gold foil and grotesque
figurines - the bade as it is known - would be a
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we must point out a very important distinction which the Balinese make between
two clearly separate groups of ancestors. The first of these groups consists
of the dead who are riot yet completely purified. This group is in turn subdivided
in pirata, those riot yet cremated, and pitara, those already cremated. The
former are still completely impure; the latter have been purified, but are still
considered as distinct, individual souls. The second group consists of the completely
purified ancestors who are considered as divine.
No contact is sought with the pirata, the dead who have not yet been cremated.
Oil the contrary they are dangerous, Offerings must however be made for the
redemption of their souls.
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