Hindu Cremation Ceremony

I'd been watching preparations for a big cremation ceremony during my first trip to Ubud. When I found out is was the day I was scheduled to take a shuttle to Sanur but cancelled it and booked two more nights in Ubud. This I couldn't miss.



Mass production of cadang offerings.

The men stripped and split bamboo for weaving.



Building the beasts.

On the day of the event, the owner of the losman and his daughter took me to the starting place on a motorscooter and dropped me off. There were the large ornate animals, bulls, lionfish creatures, boar, I'd seen the day before, set out on bamboo platforms in the street. Small boys were put on the platform, some tied to the animals legs by their parents, and some larger boys rode the backs. When the parade began, each platform was lifted by a group of men carried to the intersection where they turned a few circles before moving on down the street in parade fashion. Then the next was lifted with the requisite weight-lifter grunts and from the reaction of the onlookers, I had the feeling there was some sort of competition going on.



 

The gamelan musicians joined in the procession behind the animal figures, followed by people on foot, then motor scooters, and last of all, automobiles. The gamelan are all percussion, drums in varying sizes, a few gongs and several cymbal players who carried the melody. There were no strings, reeds or brass.

 

The procession turned into a walled temple are where each of the animals was placed on a canopied platform. People mingled, took photos, the musicians set up in a couple places and  there were vendors, and for a while it seemed time to be social. Then came the procession of offerings, cadangs, flowers, linens, foods that even included a roast, spitted piglet. Men came in carrying very decorated empty chairs on bamboo poles, some having photos of the deceased on the back. One chair had a dead chicken hanging from in and a couple times I would see a live chicken with a dead one tied to it tossed into the air by these chair-bearers. This went on for a while before the backs of the animals were removed and the offerings were stuffed in. What didn't fit was put on the platform under the animal.

 

After all the offerings were placed with the proper animal, they were set on fire. I met a woman who told me she had three people represented by one of the bulls, an aunt, grandmother and close neighbor. Its very expensive, she said, too much to be able to afford an animal for each of the deceased. Another person told me that this was a ceremony that was meant to help send the soul on, away from the body and earthly needs. What I am not clear about is what happens to the body between dying and the big ceremonies.