told some acquaintances at the hotel where I was staying where I was going
that evening they wished me well. But they indicated no interest in witnes-
sing this important ritual. They were not particularly interested. They
thought the fact I was dressed in Balinese garb was funny. I explained that
as a sign of respect all visitors to the temple had to wear the traditional
clothing. For men that means wearing a hat and a white shirt as well as a
man’s sarong. Instead of just Western pants, no matter how neat and tidy,
it is necessary to also wear a sarong.
The evening was a bit of a surprise to me. I knew many details about
Balinese ritual but I was not prepared for the mix of events all occurring
simultaneously. Not only did I watch religious rituals, albeit at a distance,
but I also participated in all kinds of peripheral activities. People were play-
ing games and gambling small amounts of money (legally). They were buy-
ing things at stalls, including inexpensive toys and food. There were others
watching the wayang performance. It was organized chaos. No one both-
ered me in any way and no one seemed to be disturbed that I was filming
the village-sponsored dance drama performance. (Since I am fairly tall I
was able to film while standing in the background.) I did ask a number of
questions and I always received polite and informative answers but no one
treated me in ways I was accustomed to outside of the religious, sacred but
also quite noisy and hectic setting. I was prepared to be very silent and
respectful but I found out that it was not considered necessary. I would
have liked to be closer to the three religious ceremonies, but as an outsider
not only to Bali but also to the village of Padang Tegal I felt I should keep
a respectful distance. I had already spoken with several priests and priests
in training about the meaning of the Sanskrit-based chants. I will not
attempt to actually present all of the details of my observations here. I
took notes but my ethnographic data is superficial compared to that found
inBelo (1966 [1953a]).I did note that while there was no cockfight there
was a good deal of gambling. The villagers performed an elaborate ceremo-
nial dance very loosely based on parts of the Ramayana and aspects of the
Mahabharata. The actual religious space was closed off to some extent but
I was able to observe the priests at a distance. Everyone was quite friendly
but few people were able to answer detailed questions. The wayang kulit
performance was as good as any I have seen but it was not otherwise
remarkable. (During my conference presentation I showed a brief excerpt
from the video that I made.) Instead of elaborating on details I observed,
I will instead now turn to the topic of why the really detailed thick descrip-
tion of a specific Balinese temple festival and other topics such as that
found inBelo (1966 [1953a]), Hooykaas (1964), Schulte-Nordholt (1991),
90 J. I. (HANS) BAKKER