CHILDBIRTH

A child in Bali knows facts about which an adolescent in the West is totally ignorant, and we knew children under five who could make erotic jokes. Their sense of responsibility became patent to me when I became the guest of a small boy in whose house I had spent the night. The next morning he took me for a walk to see his village, showed me the temples, and introduced me to the local prince; then we went to the market to see the good-looking girls of the village and he told me the story of the love affairs of each, while he bought fried peanuts from his favourite vendor to treat me.

He even offered me some of his own cigarettes; it is normal for little boys and girls to smoke and they show preference for a certain brand of tobacco perfumed with cinnamon and cloves in little cigarettes wrapped in corn husk that sell six for a penny.

A boy assists his father in the work at home and in the fields, and cares for the cattle, driving the cows and buffaloes and bathing them at sunset. He learns his father's trade, and by the time he is about eight or ten he has a good knowledge of practical matters. Besides the hybrid education that the Balinese now receive in the Dutch schools, a boy learns to read and write in Balinese characters from his father or his guru; mythology, ethics, and history he learns from watching plays and puppet shows, where he can pick up literary terms and become a scholar. Little girls learn from their mothers to cook, weave, thresh rice, and make offerings.

Although the higher education is rather the attribute of men, women are not barred from acquiring knowledge, and even peasant women show high spirits and a keen mentality.

links [ 1 ] - [ 2 ] - [ 3 ] - [ 4 ] - [ 5 ] - [ 6 ] - [ 7 ] - [ 8 ]