It is Galungan-Kuningan week in Bali. The 10 day period is full of ceremonies, offerings, and ritual. It is the time where the Hindus celebrate the victory of dharma over adharma, but not everyone would agree (or even know) about the exact meaning.One of the major signs that it is Galungan is the presence of penjor along the sides of every road. The Balinese have to put these curved bamboo poles up in front of their houses, and there are offerings placed at the base of the pole.
Lots of people take lots of pride in how well their penjor is decorated. However, another important aspect is the curvature of the bamboo. It's fun to hear guys talk about how they searched through piles of bamboo in order to find the one with just the right amount of curve...
The picture here is a stack of bamboo near our house. You can also see some of the decorations on the right hand side that would be hung from and draped on the bamboo. This stack of bamboo is a lot like what a Christmas tree lot would be like in the States. You have families come and pick out just the right one, inspecting it and evaluating all the positive and negative aspects.
Here in the picture (remember you can click on it to enlarge it), you can see one guy actually looking over a piece of bamboo and another guy on the right judging from a distance. Shortly after this picture was taken, these two guys got on their motorbike, put the bamboo on their shoulders, and drove home to start the decorating process.
