A Different Kind of Burning Man

Having just read “Island of Bali”, a classic on Balinese culture published in 1946, we were able to appreciate some of the nuances behind the cremation of three men that took place in Ubud last week. To our naïve eyes, the ceremony we saw paralleled what we learned from that text, even though it was written more than 60 years ago.

Tourists and strangers are welcomed at what Westerners would consider a somber event. In Bali, though, a cremation is a joyous occasion where participants play music and cavort through the streets. The spectacle feels more like a party than a funeral because this is the day when the soul will be released to heavenly realms and the day that the family’s obligations to the deceased will end. Since the death, family members had been required to perform daily rituals to transfer the soul to an effigy, “clean” it of impurities attained during life, and protect it from evil spirits.

On cremation day, a huge procession moves through the streets from the final resting place of the body to the cremation grounds. First come elegantly dressed family members carrying the effigy that contains the soul. These are followed by an enormous and beautifully constructed animal-shaped coffin - on this occassion, bulls - carried by dozens of men. Although hollow at this point, the coffin is where the body will be placed prior to cremation. And finally comes an elaborate tower consisting of three sections – the earthly realm at the bottom, a middle limbo that holds the body, and heavenly tiers above, the number of which is governed by strictly-observed cultural rules.

Once the procession reaches the cremation grounds, rituals are performed over a few hour period that eventually result in the body - and the soul - being moved to the coffin where everything is finally set aflame. Unlike India, where wood is used and cremation can take 3 to 4 hours, the three cremations we witnessed were over in less than an hour. The Balinese use kerosene lighters to torch the coffins, and they tease the bodies should they take too long to burn. Firemen are on the scene to safeguard the situation and the thousands of viewers.

On the surface, the Balinese funerary practices are significantly different from what we observed in Sulawesi a few weeks ago, but what struck me were the similarities between the underlying values – the extraordinary concern regarding safe passage of the deceased, a willingness to virtually bankrupt a family to cover the cost, an expectation that hundreds if not thousands should attend, and the high level of familial participation.

When the cremation ends at sunset, the families gather whatever material remains. They wrap it with great care, carry it to the nearest water source – a river or the sea – and release the final elements back to the earth from which they came.

Where a Yurt is Not a Yurt

When most people hear the word "yurt", what place do they think of? Mongolia, of course. Quite unexpectedly, however, in Mongolia, these nomadic homes are referred to as "gar" - which, when pronounced, rhymes with "care" rather than "car" as expected.

Mongolia is vast, sparsely populated outside the capital city of Ulaanbaatar, and highly unpredictable.

Last Saturday was a warm gorgeous day, and I was anxious for some exercise. Just before setting off on a long hike, I snapped the top picture from the door of the gar where I would be spending the night. The next morning as I woke in my toasty gar, kept warm by a small stove that was stoked throughout the night by the evening watchman, I stared in disbelief at what appeared to be snow falling through small openings in the top of the structure. When I stepped outside, the scene in the bottom image greeted me. More snow had fallen that spring night than had fallen throughout most of the winter months.

According to a Mongolian colleague, when a person's temperament is volatile or erratic, they are said to be like "weather in the spring". How apropos!

Ten Years and a Hundred Buffalo

Death is a big part of life in Tanah Toraja, a region of Sulawesi – the third largest island in the Indonesian archipelago. People there spend much of their lives saving money for ritual burials. When a favored family member dies, the deceased is laid out in the home and considered ‘sick” until the time of burial. But that can’t happen until sufficient funds are raised – which could take up to ten years depending on the status of the person and the scale of the funeral that is planned. An extravagant affair will run for 5 to 7 days, during which time all visitors will be housed and fed. Considering that 1,000 people could attend such a funeral, you begin to understand why it could take such a long time to raise the necessary money.

While waiting, the body is preserved with a salve made from plants, herbs, and other local ingredients. Since the lotion is not completely foolproof, in years past family members would rotate to ensure that someone was with the body 24x7. If any part became exposed, more salve had to be applied immediately to avoid decay. Now, however, obligations to earn money or attend school make it hard to perform this ritual. So, increasingly, formaldehyde or other embalming fluids are being used.

To reach the next realm successfully, a spirit needs to be accompanied. Generations ago, slaves, buffalo, and pigs would be slaughtered. Thankfully, in modern times the killing is limited to highly prized buffalo and pigs. But even then, the numbers could get extreme. So the government passed a law capping the buffalo sacrifices at 100.

The last part of the funeral process is the transfer of the body from its ancestral home to it final resting place – generally in a cave or rocky hillside. Tombs are carved out of solid stone and closed with elaborately decorated wooden doors that can be removed to add the next family member. Individuals that have been revered by their families are immortalized with wooden effigies that are placed in specially constructed porticos overlooking the burial sites. Originally, these carved images were relatively crude, but over time they have become eerily realistic.

Of course, not everyone gets ten years and a hundred buffalo. A common person is lucky to get a pig and a toss into a cave.

Although Tanah Toraja is probably the most fascinating part of Sulawesi from a cultural perspective, there are a lot of other interesting things on the island. If you want to see more, check out my photo archive.