Buffalo racing! Makepung

Sparsely populated Negara, the capital of Jembrana regency, holds the tradition of bull-racing or Mekepung. Try to imagine Ben Hur, with water buffalo's .......

Dominated by Muslims, Catholics and Protestants, the regency is unique to the Hindu island of Bali.Bullracing here is usually performed between August and November, is the local residents' way of thanking God for the harvest. At the same time, the event has also become a place where people from West Bali gather once a year.

The tradition originated in Madura, is NE Java , where it is known as Karapan Sapi. Settlers brought it to both Kaliasem and Negara. I joined the sapi gerumbugan, festivities on the 16th of August, for the Bupati cup.

Ornaments adorning the bulls shake to a regular rhythm as the animals pave their way along the two kilometer-long racing track, which is on most days just a dusty and dirty road bordering the paddy fields.The harnessed animal contestants move forward, ignoring the harassment they receive from the jockeys on their backs.

Alongside the track, hundreds of local residents pack the arena, cheering and betting for their champion. It was spectecularand fun to watch, but also a baffeling, as we did not completely understand what was going on! Apperantly the it is judged by the competency of each jockey, their speed and the entire appearance of both jockey and racing bull.

Cruelty is not taken into account... The buffelo's are beaten to make them run faster, and I've heard some men say that the jockeys also put red pepper on their asses. The bull's ass that is!

Click here to go to my Dutch blog to see a short video clip of the Makepung. It starts with me almost being run over!

Dive and snorkel clips

Pagerwesi at VSO

One of the things that made Bali, the island of the gods, famous are its many ceremonies. In whatever period of the year, no matter what day, there will alway be a religious ceremoniy somewhere at a temples, at a house compounds, or even on the streets.

The 5th of August we celebrated Pagerwesi.
Pagarwesi celebrates Sang Yang as the creator of the universe. Lavish ceremonies take place across Bali twice a year in which people make offerings to the Supreme God to stave off evil spirits.

The word Pagerwesi derived from two Javanese words, pager (fence) and wesi (iron). Pagerwesi literally means the day of "iron fence". According to their belief, one should surround oneself with a strong fortification against the forces of evil.

So, what on earth has this iron gate to do with me?

Well, these special ceremony days, are also concidered good to pray to the gods for special requests and wishes.

And on the 6th of August, TODAY.... there is a interdepartmental meeting that can influence the future of our office and work in Indonesia. Therefore we thought it was a good idea if we would participate in a special ceremony at our office...

And so we stoud side by side muslim, christen, hindu, non-believers, in our sarong and slendang, breathing the same air heavy with incence, while one of our colleagues asked us to pray, each to our believes...