CALENDAR OF EVENTS - MARCH 2009

Date: 10 March 2009
Events: Full Moon Ceremonies are held throughout the temples in Bali. The Balinese that adhere to the Hindu Dharma religion will take offerings of food, fruit, and flowers to the temple to be blessed by the priest. It is the essence of these offerings that will be enjoyed by the deities. The Balinese themselves are then blessed by performing various rituals using holy water, insence smoke, petals and rice grains.

Date: 18 March 2009
Events: Galungan is the celebration of the dominance of dharma (good) over adharma (evil). On this day, people offer thanks to God and then beg forgiveness for any sins they have committed in the past and also pray for spiri­tual peace. The holiday is specialized by the fitting of 'penjor', a tall bamboo pole splendidly decorated with woven young coconut leaves, fruit, cakes and flowers, on the right side of every house entrance.

Date: 26 March 2009
Events: Nyepi is a day of silence, fasting, and meditation. Ob­served from 6 a.m. until 6 a.m. the next morning, Nyepi is a day reserved for self-reflectionand as such, anything that might interfere with that purpose is restricted. The main restrictions are: no lighting fires, no working, no entertainment or pleasure, no traveling, and for some, no talking or eating at all. Although Nyepi is primarily a Hindu holiday, non-Hindu residents of Bali observe the day of silence as well, out of respect for their fellow citizens.

Date: 28 March 2009
Events: The Kuningan Day is the time for commemoration as the ancestors return to the heaven after ten days of dwelling on Earth and the Balinese express their gratitude to gods for His mercy to the human races. Therefore, it is a time for holiday, visiting each other and fun.