Bali is religiously isolated

Although almost 100% of the indonesian population are Muslim 90% of the resident in Bali are Hindus. The Balinese population (about 4 millions) practice their special form of Hinduism since centuries and settled down in Indonesia even before the Muslims did.

Religion in Indonesia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Indonesia

Nine Beliefs of Hinduism

The Hinduism in general has nine basic beliefs which are followed by all denominations of this religion. Even though there are several reinterpretations by one of the four subsections (Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism or Smartism) we can say they all follow the same spirituality.

Worldwide distribution of Hinduism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism

Sources

In this post I'll list up all internet pages or other forms of information that could be useful for my ILP. The post is constantly updated if something changes or new stuff is found and before handing over the project all not used data will be deleted.

My problems regarding the resources of information are the that I'm strongly dependent on the internet. So I thought about balancing the different part of sources and I am going to organize myself a book about Hinduism (if possible even one on Balinese Hinduism). Additionally to that I can always ask my granduncle via Skype or Email who is living in Bali since 20 years and knows quite a lot about this religion and about this particular form of Hinduism practiced in Bali.

Hinduism

Hinduism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism


Hinduismus
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduismus


Basic beliefs
https://www.himalayanacademy.com/readlearn/basics/nine-beliefs

Names of important divinities of Hinduism
http://www.reinold-online.de/Hinduismus/goetter_hinduismus.htm

Willi Bühler, Benno Bühlmann, Andrea Kessler (Hrsg.): Sachbuch Religionen

Hinduismus, Buddhismus, Judentum, Christentum

db-verlag


Hinduismus erklärt | Eine Religion in (fast) fünf Minuten
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDonVDFwpwg&index=8&list=WL&spfreload=10

Balinese Hinduism

Hinduism in Indonesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism_in_Indonesia

Balinese Hinduism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balinese_Hinduism


History of Balinese Hinduism
http://playground.0religion1.com/2011/die-auspragungen-und-charakteristiken-des-hinduismus-auf-
bali/

History
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/indonesia/bali/history

Overview/caste system/funeral/life cycle/ceremonies/Balinese village
http://www.balimountainretreat.com/batukara/baliinfo.html


Balinese Hindu Gods and Goddesses
http://monkeyforestubud.com/temple_god.html


The caste system
http://www.balix.com/travel/guide/chapters/about_bali/people_caste.html


Caste system of Balinese Hinduism
http://www.discover-bali-indonesia.com/encyclopedia-caste-system-of-hinduism.html


Balinese culture - rites & festivals
http://www.pande-bali.com/culture/ceremony.html


Overview / religious feasts
http://www.insel-der-goetter.de/kultur.htm

Hindu festivals & temple ceremonies (Bali)
http://www.mydestination.com/bali/usefulinfo/6181897/hindu-festivals--temple-ceremonies

Diana Darling: Bali - Party Service für die Götter.

In: Merian (10. Okt. 1997), 82 - 89 

And for assistance or if not available in English I might consider to use a German sources if I have problems in understanding.

Pictures (basically all pictures are taken by myself unless mentioned)


Distribution of Hinduism 2
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism
Demographics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hinduism#mediaviewer/File:Hinduism_percent_population_in_each_nation_World_Map_Hindu_data_by_Pew_Research.svg

Religions in Indonesia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Indonesia

Back from Bali and Gran Canaria

As I came back from my hotel practical a couple of days before school started, I had no time to focus on ILP in that week. On one hand side it took me some time to settle in again and on the other hand side I wasn't home for long. After two days of school I left for Gran Canaria (European Beachhandball Champions Cup) on the 29. Oct. until 03. Nov.

The court right next to the beach

But since the 04. Nov I am definitely back at the Kanti Baden and really have to deepen my work on the ILP. 

While I did some research in Bali (in WWW and by attending local religious parties) the plan is to start soon with the academic text.

Property sanctification

Luckily I could attend a blessing at my grand uncle's place on my second last day here in Bali. He is living here for 18 years and since the Balinese are very religious (spend 61% of income for ceremonies/offerings) he always has to organize a ceremony where a priest, the so called "Manku", leads a sanctification by immolating oblations to the gods and to scare off the ghosts. Otherwise his employees are afraid to work in the building or even refuse to.

The Manku sits on a low desk and sacrifices all oblations step by step

The ceremony is attended by all employees in traditional dresses

The Manku

The offerings are mostly food

Some impressions

I arrived on Fri. 26. late in the evening. I'm working from Mon. to Fri. so I had the time and the possibility to be present at a funeral last weekend! As you can see on the attached photos, after carrying all the offerings with the coffin through the whole village they were burnt out of town.

Authorized officers of the "religion police" ensure a safe and more or less smooth walk through the city centre  

More than 20 men carry the decorated coffin under blistering heat

The guy on the left with the lose tries to make sure that the fire doesn't jump over and cause a forest fire

Fortunately all went well. What an experience!

The team (including me) of The Chedi Club Jimbaran in traditional Batik shirts

Last post before leaving to Bali

As I am going to Bali for an internship at The Chedi Club Jimbaran (where my uncle is working as a manager), I will see Balinese Hinduism in real life. I hope I will get some impression of their way of life and that I can take some pictures for the report. 

Searching for Material

Today I was looking for some pages in the WWW with usable and reliable content to get an overview about this form of Hinduism. I also looked through my gallery to find some old photos from previous trips to the Island of Gods.

Offerings

Common form of temple 

The new house of my uncle is being dedicated

First Post

After realising on Sunday evening that I need my ILP-Topic tomorrow morning, I was kind of lost. So I asked my mother for help and ideas. She immediately talked about Balinese Hinduism because our family has several relatives on the island and we've been there half a dozen times. So I stuck to this idea also because I have a collection of photographies taken by myself and I have experienced my own impressions of their way of life practicing Hinduism.

I think of structuring my project as following:
-short part on the religion Hinduism itself (because not many people in our culture are in to this)
-focusing on Balinese Hinduism by showing their lifestyle, ceremonies, offerings ...

So the end-product is going to be a mixture of academic interests (research with WWW and books) combined (or attached at the end) with personal experience, which prevents the project from getting boring or uninspiring. For the project I am mostly going to take self-made pictures.

For the presentation:
-showing what I have done in a summerized manner
-showing pics of religious locations where I've been to on Bali and tell some stories I have sampled regarding Balinese Hinduism

In this blog I'll note down my logbook.