“Celebrate the victory of good against evil”
Galungan is a Balinese holiday celebrating the victory of dharma over adharma. It celebrates the victory of good against evil. It marks the time when ancestral spirits of deceased persons visit the Earth.
The spirits come back to visit their ancient homes and Balinese people have the responsibility to be welcoming and generous to their ancestors through prayers and offerings in their home.
The bigger sign of the celebration is the penjor – this is a bamboo pole with offerings suspended at the end which line the roads.
The Penjor represents the mountain, in the Balinese Hindu religion it is the residence of god. The Penjor is also a way of saying thank you to God who created the universe. Beside the Penjor, there are offerings. The shape of curved bamboo symbolizes the dragons that protect us.
Galungan celebrates the creation of the universe, it appears every 210 days according to the Balinese calendar, it’s always a Wednesday and lasts 3 days. Balinese people believe that gods and ancestral spirits are coming to the temple. Bali comes alive and gives rise to many ceremonies. The last day of the celebration is Kuningan, it appears ten days after, which symbolizes the spirits ascending to the heavens, when they leave the earth.
Indeed, during this period, Balinese people will connect with God, pray, eat good Balinese food and dress up with traditional clothes to visit their families and temples.
This year 2019 Galungan was on July 24th and Kuningan on August 3rd
