Upacara Pelebon- Royal Cremation (fit for a Queen)

a small deity to accompany the Queen to the next world

What a show, how more rococo and alive can a ceremony be ....with everyone participating ....

                                      SPECTACULAR

these warriors will protect the Queen as the procession leaves the puri (palace) 

the sacred writing on the flag will be attached to the bull for cremation

Tjokorda Istri Sri Tjandrawati

There is nothing in any other culture that can prepare you for  a royal cremation in UBUD.  And this one was beyond the other two royal cremations I have attended.

What is possible when humans work together, with great artistry and spiritualism is beyond my imagination.  The human capital is Bali sometimes appears to be made up of one pulsating body.

members of the royal family bring her favorite things to accompany her

sacrificed animals accompany all upacara

The energy of 356 men carrying the tower...... only about 500 feet before it is put down.... and the next 356 men come and take over....and you feel their energy and intention for the next 500 feet....until 7000 men have walked the procession with every muscle and  all good intention used toward bringing their Queen's body to the cemetery.  The process was illuminated by every single emotion a person can feel.

banten (offerings)

a young male member of the royal family carrying the holy water (tirta)

young girl being carried on the palenquin

Gotong Royong (working together as a community) (and this was all done in 7DAYS, voluntarily)

Tjokorda Istri Sri Tjandrawati, the royal wife of Putra, the leader of the royal family in Ubud was the woman whose Pelebon I attended.  There were at least seven upacara prior to this one; I attended one in the puri (palace)  as Dedik was playing with his gamelan (orchestra), Suadani.

the casket leaves the temple and will be carried

upward to the 9 tier (royal) tower

it is So steep, the tower bier

is an amazing 85 feet high

She had been ill with stomach cancer, and a host of terrible illnesses that led  to a fall.  In less than a year, she died in a most horrible manner, away from family, in a hospital in Singapore.   My own observation, is that most Balinese are lax in getting help when they sense it is cancer.  For the Queen, I do not know. What I have been told is that when she did go to Singapore, the doctors there could not find the cancer immediately and therefore she lost the time necessary for complete treatments .

the casket is loaded onto the tower

the bull sarcophogi

PURPLE........... a first (usually it's black) Royal

the procession begins on Jalan Raya

they turn is round and round/ topsy turvy to confuse the body

so that it does not have a chance to stay in the material world

 I also spoke with the embalmer, who said that her son (she had 2) saved her hair as it fell out from chemotherapy and that a wig was created with this hair; so in the end she went into the next world with her hair.  She had just turned 59.

yes, Ubud power was shut off beginning at 9am

detail

There was a lot of drama as the tower swayed and shaved the leaves and flowers off trees down the main road.  We walked to the Peliatan cemetery for the rest of the rituals.

now the casket must be put into the sarcophogi (bull)

casket descending

It was a blazingly hot and clear day.  One learns to surrender to a number of things here in the tropics........the heat, the need for extraordinary patience, the filth and lack of real waste management.......these I have managed all quite well.

bull is moved into place

they cut open the bull and commence all kinds of rituals such as placing the 5 elements with her, the female members of the family spread their hair and brush her body.  They discard the casket and open her body to the elements and the family prays with the priest

the immediate family

And her body is released to go to the next world..........and then be reincarnated....hopefully as another female heir gives birth...... and rebirth

Her ashes are then reconfigured into a small female body and then the family tosses these into the sea. It's such a beautiful procession to see this  parade with music marching toward the sea.


I am still working on surrendering to the Traffic and more importantly, the Tolerance toward others......... that the Balinese really embody (except for some members of their own family compound).  I am always working toward this detachment....because preoccupation toward distress just entails  the choice to "suffer"........ and I want to choose to be happy and content.



Life is Good here in Bali.















travelin' woman