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Getting to know Galungan Day, the traditional day for Hindu’s to commemorate victory!
People of Hindu in various regions in Indonesia are celebrating Hari Raya Galungan. This celebration is synonymous with Hindus who pray and worship their ancestors in refutation, merajan.
Galungan Day is commemorated as the day of the victory of Dharma (goodness) against Adharma (evil). Galungan is celebrated by Hindus every 6 months or 210 days, using the Balinese calendar calculations, namely on Buddhist Kliwon Dungulan Day (Wednesday Kliwon Wuku Dungulan ) as the Day of Victory of Dharma (truth) against Adharma (evil).
Galungan Day is a moment to commemorate the creation of the universe. As a thanksgiving, Hindus give and make offerings to Sang Hyang Widhi and Dewa Bhatara.
Galungan itself comes from Old Javanese which means 'win'. In addition, the word Galungan has a similar meaning to Dungulan which means to win. Galungan provides an understanding that good intentions and efforts will always win compared to bad intentions and efforts.
In celebrating this holy Galungan day, the Balinese Hindu community carries out various special and special activities. Galungan celebrations begin with prayers in their respective homes, then to larger family temples such as Penjajan Agung, Dadia , Mother Temple, Panti, Banjar Temple and to Kahyangan Tiga or Pelinggih - pelinggih at the place of business.
On this holy day, Balinese people who celebrate Galungan will wear traditional clothes dominated by white while carrying offerings on their heads. For Hindus who have family members with mapendem status or have died or commonly called the Balinese people with Makingsan in Pertiwi, then they have to bring benten to the cemetery.
The Galungan Day celebration is also accompanied by other religious ceremonies, starting from the Tumpek Wariga ( Pengatag ) Day which is held 25 days before the Galungan Day celebration. Then, Kliwon Wuku Wariga , where Hindus make offerings to Sang Hyang Sangkara , which is a manifestation of God as the god of Prosperity and Salvation for plants.
This celebration is a form of human love for plants. The characteristic of Tumpek Pengatag Day is by offering various colors of porridge ( bubuh ), such as white, yellow, red, and green porridge.
The next series of ceremonies is called Sugihan Jawa which is held six days before Galungan. Sugihan Jawa comes from the word sugi which means to purify , while Javanese or jaba means outside.
This religious ceremony is defined as purifying or cleansing everything that is in humans (bhuana agung), such as cleaning the merajan (holy places) and also the house as part of the Great Bhuana.
Then five days before Galungan the Sugihan Bali ceremony was held , which means cleansing the human being both body and soul. This is done so that in the celebration of Galungan will all clean scale and timeless , so that it can run properly.
Then, three days before Galungan Day, the Pahing wuku Dungulan or also known as Penyekeban Day is held . On that day, humans are expected to be able to restrain the senses (lust) and refrain from doing things that are contrary to religion.
Then, two days before Galungan there is a Penyajaan ceremony , where Hindus have to really stabilize themselves in carrying out the ceremony. Because they will begin to be seduced by Sang Bhuta Dungulan and must be able to stabilize themselves to take a few steps towards Galungan.
The day before Galungan Day, it is known as Penampahan Galungan. In this procession, Hindus slaughter pigs as a symbol of killing the animal passions that are in humans, and are used as religious ceremonial equipment.
The day before Galungan, Balinese people will also be busy making penjor, or decorative bamboo on the side of the road. Penjor itself is made of curved bamboo sticks decorated with various materials from agricultural products, such as leaves ( plawa ), seeds ( palawija ), tubers and palagantung, such as coconut, rice, and bananas.
Penjor as a symbol of prosperity and prosperity, is made with a beautiful appearance to support the implementation of the increasingly lively Galungan Day.
It is hoped that on this Galungan day, the mind can be pure and clean, and all negative influences can be lost.
Words: Kumparan Travel
Images: Ruben Hutabarat