Trunyan Village and the Bali Aga Cemetery

We split the group in two, and took two boats across Lake Batur, which is a crater left from an old volcanic explosion. That means the lake is roughly circular with a very steep lip. There isn’t a lot of room between the water and the top. Trunyan Village is wedged into that little space. The houses extend right onto the water and the rice fields are terraced into steep slopes.

Chickens are important to them. Cockfighting is sometimes part of the religious ceremonies, though letting them fight to the death is not legal except as part of a ritual sacrifice. The sacrificed birds will sometimes end up in the stew pot.

The community revolves around a central courtyard that is covered, a raised area, the individual shrines to different gods and goddesses, and the main temple. These are all located in the center of town.

There had been a miscarriage a few days before we arrived. Due to their religious rules and the fact the fetus was on display in the temple, we were not allowed entrance.

They believe that they are different than other people. Their form of Hinduism is different. They claim they descended from the goddess Kindra, who came down from the sky.

Their temple’s name translates to “the center of the world.” Their year is 210 days long. Their anniversaries come every six months. Birthdays are celebrated three times in a calendar year – twice by the lunar calendar and once by the international calendar.

The sacrifices made on such occasions are generally tossed into the lake. It does not matter than people in other villages might fish the sacrifices out of the lake and use them as they please.

For instance, wood from towers used as sacrifices might be used by another village as fire wood. However, they would not claim it themselves because to do so would be bad luck.

gates create a boarder and are considered a form of protection against outsiders and is considered to go until the sky.

There are 210 families – about 500 villagers in town. They used to only marry within town – often arranged marriages. Now because people leave town to go to school they are more likely to marry outside of the village. Sometimes they don’t return because they don’t want to be fishermen or limited by the lifestyles in the village.

The houses tend to be small. Most are made with a combination of stone and/or wood, but a few are woven like baskets. We were welcomed into one of these woven homes.

The kitchen was the size of a closest, with no running water. There was only one other chamber – the main room that doubled as a bedroom. This reminded me a great deal of the camper that goes on the back of a pickup.

His dinner consisted of fruit and such that he had collected in the woods outside of the village. Although it might be humble, he considered this a good life. However, his children moved across the lake where they had easier access to a road leaving the area.

After visiting in Trunyan Village we took the boats part way further along the coast of the lake. For a crater it’s huge. There we saw the cemetery.

The interesting thing there is that the bodies are neither cremated, nor buried. They are placed under bamboo, tent-like frames and said to be preserved by the roots of the taru menyan tree.

They are surrounded by items the deceased liked in life along with coins and such. The ground is covered in such litter. When they run out of space, the skulls are placed on the pile, and the bones and coverings swept to the side.