EVERYDAY LIFE IN BALI

THE HOUSE

Curiously, bamboo is not grown within the house. If it sprouts by itself it is allowed to remain, but its growth is discouraged by indirect means. Such is the magic of bamboo that only old people may tackle the dangerous job of planting it or digging it out, and the first lump of earth dug must be thrown as far away as possible.

It is said that if this earth touches someone, he will surely die, and it is only on certain days that work concerning bamboo may be safely undertaken. Yet life in Bali would have developed along different lines had bamboo not existed on the island. Out of bamboo they make the great majority of their artifacts; houses, beds, bridges, water-pipes, musical instrument~ altars, and so forth.

It is woven into light movable screens for walls, sun-hats, and baskets of every conceivable purpose. The young shoots are excellent to eat, while other parts are used a medicine. I was told that the tiny hairs in the wrapping of the new leaves are a slow and undetectable poison like ground glass And tiger's whiskers.

Bamboo combines the strength of steel with qualities of the lightest wood. It grows rapidly and without care to enormous size Social and economic differences affect but little the basic structure of the home. The house of a poor family is called pekarangan, that of a nobleman is a djero, and a Brahmana's is a griya, but these differences are mostly in the name, the quality of the materials employed, the workmanship, and of course in th larger and richer family temple.

The fundamental plan is base on the same rules for everyone. Only the great palace (puri) of the local ruling prince is infinitely more elaborate, with a li1 pond, compartments for the Radja's brothers and his countless wives, a great temple divided into three courts, and even special sections for the preservation of the corpses and for the seclusio of “ impure ‘ palace women during the time of menstruation.

links [ 1 ] - [ 2 ] - [ 3 ] - [ 4 ] - [ 5 ] - [ 6 ] - [ 7 ] - [ 8 ] - [ 9 ]