To balance my recent blog about litter in Bali here's a photo taken yesterday, showing a village road adorned with beautiful penjors. 

It's the women's job to make all the millions of daily offerings in Bali but once every 210 days, according to the Pawukon calendar, there is a huge island-wide ceremony spanning 10 days, from Galungan to Kuningan, and it is the men's job to make the penjors. They are placed along the roadside, outside every home and property on the island. Made of a bamboo pole lavishly decorated with coconut leaf ornaments, flowers, fruit and cloth decorations, the penjor is said to symbolize Bali's most sacred mountain, Mount Agung, and the decorations are an expression of the people's gratitude to the gods for agricultural blessings.

Something I've never read in any guide book or heard any Balinese person mention is the wonderful etheric cleansing effect of walking through such an arch. Although this knowledge seems to have been lost now, I'm sure it was known and understood at the time this ritual first began. Each person's etheric is swept clean as they walk to the temple with their offerings for the gods. Bali has a wealth of such practices, preserved in its vibrant spiritual traditions.

This photo was taken at a quiet time of day, late in the afternoon, but at this time of year all 3 million Balinese Hindus actively participate in a series of ceremonies, bringing all the island's temples to life. The roads are usually a hive of activity. And no, I didn't photoshop the road. Apart from whatever it is lying on the left hand side there (a fallen offering?), it really was free of litter!

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