EVERYDAY LIFE IN BALI

COSTUME AND ADORNMENT

Few costumes in the world have the dignified elegance of the ceremonial costume of a noblewoman: the underskirt dragging on the ground in a train of silk and gold; the torso bound from the hips to the armpits; first is a strong bulang, a strip of cloth fifteen feet long, covered by a sabuk, another strip of silk overlaid with gold leaf; with gold plugs through her ears, her hair dressed in a great crown of real and gold flowers, with the forehead reshaped with paint and decorated with rows of flower petals, two small disks of gold pasted to the temples; walking with poise in a procession with other girls dressed like herself, in a display of style, beauty, and dignity.

The costumes for dramatic performances are as spectacular as any in our ballets; diadems of fresh flowers and helmets of gold set with coloured stones, the body wrapped from head to foot in bright-coloured silks to which bold designs in glittering goldleaf are applied by a special process in truly theatrical style.

A Balinese woman is seldom without flowers in her hair, and during festivals one sees a bewildering variety of head-dresses They are then well aware of their beauty and take special pal with the arrangement of the hair, fixed ingeniously without pins and without the help of a mirror. The hair is combed back with a fan-shaped comb the end rolled into a bundle (pusung) that protrudes to the left and is held in place tucked under strands of the woman's own hair. Unmarried girls leave a loose lock (gondjer) that hangs down the back or over one shoulder. Ordinarily the flowers are simply caught between the hairs, sometimes suspended in the gondjer or over the forehead, dangling from a single invisible hair.

Each type of head-dress receives a special name, from the simple flower arrangement worn at lesser feasts to the gelung agung, the diadem worn by noble brides. The gelung agung is an enormous crown of fresh flowers; sprays of jasmine, sandat, and bunga gadung, mixed with flowers of beaten gold mounted on springs that quiver at the slightest motion of the head. A beautiful forehead that describes a high arch coming down at the temples is obtained by painting it with a mixture of soot and oil.

Little acacia blossoms or yellow flower petals are carefully pasted in a row in the blackened area to emphasize the outline of the brow. They are called trangana, meaning a " constellation." Girls who have reached puberty cut two locks of hair, brought from the middle of the head, over the ears in two curls (semi) , stiffened with wax to keep them in place.Men do not wear any ornaments except flowers and perhaps a bracelet of akar bahar, a black sort of coral supposed to prevent rheumatism, but women love jewellery and it is extraordinary that outside of dancers or children the Balinese are one of the rare people in the world that do not wear necklaces.

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