Ceremonies & Festivals

Bali has more festivals than days in the year — only slightly exaggerated. The Balinese Pawukon calendar (210 days) and the Saka calendar (lunar calendar, similar to the Western year) together create an endless stream of ceremonies:

Galungan & Kuningan

The most important festival in the Pawukon calendar — every 210 days, for 10 days. On Galungan, the ancestral spirits return to earth. Everywhere, Penjor are erected — up to 10-meter-high, elaborately decorated bamboo poles that lean over the streets. Kuningan (10 days later) marks the return of the ancestors to the spirit world.

Odalan (Temple Anniversary)

Each of the 20,000 temples celebrates its anniversary every 210 days — with multi-day ceremonies, Gamelan music, dance, and communal meals. The likelihood of a tourist stumbling into an Odalan is high — and it is always a privilege.

Ngaben (Cremation)

The Balinese cremation is not a mourning event but a celebration: The soul is freed from the body and can reincarnate or enter Nirvana. The body is carried in an elaborately decorated tower (Bade) to the cremation site and burned in a sarcophagus in animal form (bull for the Brahman caste, lion for Ksatriyas). Thousands of people participate, there is laughter, dancing, and celebration. Tourists are welcome as long as they are respectful.

Melasti

Three days before Nyepi, festive processions move to the beaches and sacred springs to ritually cleanse temple sanctuaries and themselves. Thousands of Balinese dressed in white at the beach — an unforgettable sight.