The Province of Bali consists of several islands. Those islands are: Bali, itself, the largest of the group, and the smaller islands of Nusa Penida, Nusa Ceningan, Nusa Lembongan, and Serangan Island as well as Menjangan Island.
Bali Island covers an area of 5,632.86 km or 0.29% of the entire Indonesian archipelago. The Province of Jawa Timur, to the west is separated from Bali by the Bali Strait. To the East is the island of Lombok, across the Lombok Strait.
Administratively, the island is divided into 9 districts (8 regencies and 1 municipality), 51 sub districts, 565 villages, 79 local political district and 3,499 banjar or community groups.
Geographically, the Province of Bali is situated
8°–03′–40″ to 8°–50′–48″ South of the Equator and 114°–25′–53″ to 155°–42′–40″ East longitude.
Bali has a tropical climate that is influenced by wind patterns which alternate every six months. There are two seasons: the dry season from April to October and the rainy season from October to April.
Temperatures vary from 24.0 degrees Celsius to 30.8 degrees Celsius. Rainfall during the last five years ranged between a low of 893.4mm and a high level of 2,702.6 mm as an annual average.
Ceremony
The date of Piodalan generally comes every 210 days. However there are also piodalan which are celebrated every one year, and special anniversaries called Panca Walikrama, every five years. There is also one which Hindus call Eka Dasa Ludra which occurs every one hundred years.
Each Piodalan day, followers of Hinduism in Bali go to the temples to pray. Complete with traditional clothing, carrying elaborate offerings, and accompanied by musical instruments, they come to ask forgiveness, salvation and happiness. Many of the large temples at Besakih, Uluwatu, Rambutsiwi as well as others are filled with worshippers from all of Bali as well as from other places such as Jawa and Lombok.
This is the most important festival holiday in the Hindu cycle. Galungan is celebrated every 210 days, and symbolizes the victory in the struggle between the forces of Dharma and Adharma.
The people construct penjor, the elaborate decorations made of bamboo, coconuts, fruit, and flowers, and place them on the right side of their entranceways.
This holiday takes place ten days after Galungan, bringing the holiday period to a closing time. On this day, special ritual ceremony is held for the Ancestral spirits.
Nyepi is the first day of the Balinese New Year. It is a day of meditation, when all the Balinese people stop their activities and daily routines. People are not supposed to be at work on this day; they remain in their homes, build no fires and spend a quiet day in preparation for the year ahead.
This feast day is one which honors the manifestation of the Creator in the form of the Goddess Saraswati. She represents Knowledge and Wisdom. On this day, all books are blessed and sacred manuscripts, the Weda, are blessed and offerings are made to ensure the continuation of learning.
The name literally means “iron fence”, on which day ceremonies and prayers are held for strong mental and spiritual defence in welcoming the Galungan holiday.
For Hinduism, Ngaben is the ceremony of cremation. The purpose of this important event is to cleanse the soul (atma) in preparation for the passage from the Real World to the Unreal or Intangible World. This event takes place in the cemetery.
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