Meeting a prince!
It is hard to really describe what is happening in Ubud now, the buzz with 2 weeks left before the King, who died young at 55, is cremated and then 4 days later the mass cremation of 80 people who have died over the last 5 years. If families have enough money, people can be cremated immediately when they die but these ceremonies are incredibly expensive and the village working together seems to me a beautiful way to celebrate and honor the lives of the dead and make this process affordable.
The men have been building sarcophagus in either the shape of a bulls or a singha, a mythical lion which will be used to carry the cleansed bones to the Wadah, which is also being built, a tall tower representing the cosmos. The detail and beauty of the bulls is amazing….black velvet, gold tooling, red details. In my neighborhood, 5 people, well, their bones, will be transported inside one enormous bull. In a temple near the house there are about 14 bulls and lions being made. It’s an enormous job that the men dressed in their sarongs, temple wear, work at every day.
The women gather on the temple grounds as well clustered together making offering baskets, gathering everything that needs to be done to help these souls ascend to heaven. The amount of materials that are needed including food for this ceremony is mind boggling. When I walk by the temple grounds, there is a buzz from all the talking, and I just find myself staring at all the activity, loving the closeness both physical and I guess the village friendships all working together. The closeness here in Bali of families and villages is appealing.
The king will be cremated on the 15th and at the palace they are building a bamboo wadah that must be 4 stories high! Men balance on the bamboo poles tied together with cloth as they go up higher. The construction process would fascinate you. Better video some of it! And then there are the ramps being built used to place the body up there. This wadah after the ceremony at the palace will be walked to the royal cemetery for his cremation. Probably 50,000 people will be here for this event.
So, Nyoman, my sunshine in the morning coffee and breakfast man, told me yesterday that not far from the palace he walked to see the biggest bull he had ever seen…like enormous! I said How many people will be cremated in it? Just one was his reply but that’s all he said. So yesterday after my batik class (gotta tell you about that too) I decided to take a walk to see the biggest bull Nyoman had ever seen. It was a pretty long walk in a neighborhood I didn’t know but I turned down a street and saw about 100 men in sarongs leaving this large garage type building. Inside were 2 enormous……as in enormous….2 stories high bulls, one higher than the other and the detail, the gold, the beauty, I was awestruck.
There was a Balinese man standing nearby in a gorgeous royal blue silk temple outfit(could have figured out from the color maybe?)….blue jacket with gold details, blue patterned sarong with gold detail. So handsome. I asked him “how many people is this beautiful bull being built for?” “Just one, my father.” He said so proudly. “My father is the King.” So Nyoman had left out the part that this one man was the King of Bali. So then the son, CW for short or Chuckwa as his name is pronounced spent the next hour with me explaining about the gorgeous dragon that they are building with a 108 meter tail that will wrap around the wadah as it is marched to the cemetery. The dragon leads the way to heaven. The bull is the transport. I got so many questions answered as we wandered around the grounds.You know as an American royal families are not part of my heritage…well, except for King Bush and his lame son Prince Bush. So, it seemed rather amazing to be wandering the grounds, being served a cold drink at what will be his new home. He lives in a palace near the big palace now but wants to move his family to this quiet place near the river. He is building this lovely home on this peaceful setting.
I heard stories about his family, his one American mom & his other mom, his kids….the cremation, his dad. And what kept coming through was how much he loved his father and how much he missed him. He wants this cremation to be the most spectacular of all time. He said …after a person dies, all they have is their name that stays here.
We wandered to say hello to his dogs….a golden retriever, a collie…I asked him if he saw the show Lassie, he had and another breed I don’t know. I actually wanted to just keep talking, learning about Bali, he is very devoted to this island, and life as the youngest son of the King. You know me, I love to understand life in other countries and it seemed so wonderful to have time to talk, a relaxed conversation with the son of the King!
While I was there, his brother called to say that the daughter of the President of Indonesia had arrived at the palace and was he coming home to greet her. No, he wasn’t. We joked that he was meeting with an American woman the daughter of a very important man. But, as it was getting dark and I didn’t want to take up his entire evening…well, I did but decided not too….I said farewell. I’m invited back to see the progress of the bulls & if I want to go see his palace, I just say…hey, CW invited me and I won’t have to pay! Cool…..now starting the 5th month here in Bali and for someone who notices smiles, I picked very wisely. Lots of smiles.
