Animal Sacrifices

By Diana Darling

Many visitors to Bali are taken aback by the use of animals in religious ceremonies. Rituals have a sliding scale of size, which is partly defined by the number and type of anomals to be sacrificed. For small purification ceremonies, the size goes from one chiken to five chickens plus so many ducks. A small village wedding might be two pigs. The immense purification ceremonies conducted in 2002 after the bombing of night-club in Kuta required the sacrifice of 79 animals, some of them rare. But perhaps the most appaling to outsiders to honour the deity of a lake or sea or their throwing into a volcano to appease the mountain's deities.

he Balinese universe is populated by a variety of invisible energies, each of which must be acknowledge in a precisely defined manner through offerings. These ambivalent energies mutate between positive and negative in a way that is often traslated as goods and demons Gods are pleased by flowers, pretty dances, and sweet things like cakes and fruit, while demons prefer raw meat, strong drink, and noisy music. Any Balinese rite will comprise offerings to both polarities.

Sharing with the Community

Animal sacrifices are also an occasion of sharing meat still a luxury for poor Bali nese families among the community. The animals are acquired by designated village members and brought to the temple. They are given offerings, with a mantra wis hing them a human reincarnation, before their throats are cut. Then men sort themselves into different work groups to prepare the carcasses for cooking. Some of the meat is set aside for offerings. This may be cooked or raw, but much of it becomes various forms of satay or kababs, arrange in bundles and brought by the men into the temple. The rest of the meat is cooked and shared by the community.