Bali Experience

In Bali, history is not the dry, dead stuff of tedious textbooks and typical tourist guides. Here history is alive, a vital part of the daily island rhythms of work and play, of ritual and commerce, of family, identity and community. In Bali, where one's ancestors are born anew in one's children, living links with the past continue to shape the present and give form to the future.

History is brought back to life each evening when, beneath a sky glazed with the gaudy colors of tropical sunset, women in sarongs and sashes place flower and incense offerings in the ancestor temples that grace the courtyards of every Balinese home.

History is reenacted for spellbound audiences in the dramas of the wayang kulit shadow play, in the topeng masked dance, in the Balinese opera Arja, and in traditional Balinese drama gong theater. And history is remembered and rewoven into the fabric of contemporary life during temple anniversaries and holidays such as Galungan, when Balinese from all across the island return to their temples of origin to reunite with their families and to pray for the blessings of their ancestors.