Balinese Culture: A Visitor's Guide to Bali's Faith, Villages, Ceremonies and Arts

In Brief

Balinese culture grows from Balinese Hinduism, a religion of practice more than doctrine. It is built on community duty, the honouring of ancestors and the balance between the seen and unseen worlds, sekala and niskala.

Its frame is the customary village, the desa adat, and its neighbourhood units, the banjar, which run ceremonies under their own written rules.

Time follows a 210-day ritual calendar, the pawukon, alongside a lunar year. Holy days such as Galungan can therefore come round twice in one year. Daily offerings, life-cycle rites and temple festivals fill that calendar.

Dance and gamelan music belong to the temple as much as the stage. UNESCO has inscribed three genres of traditional Balinese dance as intangible heritage.

For a visitor, the rules are few and clear: dress modestly, respect temples and ceremonies, and avoid stepping on offerings.

Balinese Culture at a Glance

• Religion: Balinese Hinduism, practised through ritual, offerings and ancestor veneration
• Core ideas: Tri Hita Karana (harmony with God, people and nature), Rwa Bhineda (balance of opposites), sekala and niskala (the seen and the unseen)
• Community: The desa adat (customary village) and its banjar, governed by their own rules, the awig-awig
• Time: The 210-day pawukon calendar and the lunar saka year
• Heritage status: Traditional Balinese dance, UNESCO intangible heritage (2015), and the subak rice landscape, a UNESCO World Heritage cultural landscape
• Language: Balinese, with speech levels by status and setting, alongside Indonesian
• The north: More Bali Aga (old Balinese) villages than any other regency, its own festivals, and its own painting tradition

Balinese Hinduism Puts Ritual Practice Before Doctrine

Much of Balinese culture is bound up with the religion.

Wikipedia's overview of Balinese Hinduism sums it up as a religion that puts ritual practice before doctrine. It names three more marks: communal religious duty, veneration of ancestors, and the balance between the visible world, sekala, and the invisible, niskala.

Space carries meaning too. In Balinese understanding, the mountains, Gunung Agung above all, are the seat of the gods, and the sea is the home of powerful and unruly forces. Temples, houses and villages are laid out between the two, kaja toward the mountain and kelod toward the sea.

Pura Maduwe Karang at Kubutambahan, in Buleleng. Photo: DayakSibiriak / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Go deeper:

• Balinese Hinduism explained: the gods, the priests, the five tenets of belief and the temples
• Tri Hita Karana, Rwa Bhineda and sekala and niskala: the three ideas that explain most of what you see
• Balinese mythology: the turtle beneath the island, the Barong and Rangda, and the legends of the north
• The best temples in north Bali and Pura Pulaki on the north-west coast

Other faiths are part of the island too. The north has its own churches and a Buddhist monastery in the hills near Lovina.

The Village and Its Banjar Run Community Life

The customary village is a central unit of Balinese community life.

Bali's provincial regulation on customary villages defines the desa adat as a community under customary law, bound to its temples. It has its own territory, traditions, property and inherited ways of living together, and the right to run its own affairs.

The banjar adat is a part of the village, and is also called the banjar suka duka, the banjar of joy and sorrow. Both village and banjar make their own rules, the awig-awig. These apply to members and to newcomers living in the village alike.

In practice, members of the banjar come together for weddings and cremations. They also gather for a temple festival, and for the building of an effigy before Nyepi.

Four pages explain how the village works:

• The Balinese banjar: how the banjar itself works
• Traditional Balinese architecture: how house compounds are laid out
• Balinese names: why so many people are called Wayan, Made, Nyoman and Ketut
• The subak: how farmers share the water for the rice

The North Keeps the Older Bali Aga Villages

Buleleng has more Bali Aga villages than any other regency, the regency government notes. An anthropologist from STAH Mpu Kuturan Singaraja counts seven, reported by the regency:

• In Banjar district: Sidetapa, Cempaga, Tigawasa, Pedawa and Banyuseri
• In Tejakula: Sembiran and Julah

In his account, Bali Aga communities bury their dead rather than cremate them. When they hold a ceremony, they turn to a village balian rather than a high priest.

The Bali Aga villages of the north covers each one.

Two Calendars Set the Holy Days

Bali runs two calendars at once.

The pawukon is a 210-day cycle of 30 wuku weeks of seven days each, a study in the Widyadari journal explains, so a pawukon holy day returns every 210 days. Within it run ten weeks of different lengths, from one day long to ten. Most holy days, temple anniversaries and birthdays are fixed by it.

The saka calendar follows the moon and is kept in step with the solar year, Karangasem regency's information office explains. Nyepi, the New Year, belongs to it.

Because 210 days is shorter than a year, the big pawukon feasts can fall twice in one Western year.

Penjor arching over the road in the days before Galungan. Photo: Tigerente / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

The calendar and its main holy days each have a page:

• The Balinese calendar explained: how the two fit together and how to read a date
• Galungan and Kuningan: the ten days when the ancestors visit, with penjor poles arching over the streets
• Pagerwesi: the day of the iron fence, which Buleleng keeps on the scale of Galungan
• Nyepi, the Day of Silence, and the night before it, when the ogoh-ogoh effigies are paraded
• Otonan: the Balinese birthday, which comes round every 210 days

Ceremonies Fall Into Five Classes, the Panca Yadnya

Balinese ritual is sorted into five classes, the Panca Yadnya. Each is a kind of offering:

• to the gods
• to the ancestors
• to the sages
• to people, through the life-cycle rites
• to the lower forces

The Balinese ceremonies guide is the place to start. What the ceremony elements mean explains the holy water, flowers and offerings you will see at any of them.

Offering baskets crossing the reef at Tanah Lot. Photo: IrmaRosalina / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Life-Cycle Rites Run From Birth to Death

• Otonan, the 210-day birthday
• Metatah, the tooth filing that marks coming of age
• The Balinese wedding
• Ngaben, the cremation that frees the soul

Other Rites Cleanse and Restore Balance

Melukat is purification with holy water. Mecaru is the rite of offerings that restore harmony with the forces of nature.

After prayer a visitor notices two small signs: the rice on the forehead and the red, white and black tridatu thread.

Offerings Are Set Out Each Morning

The daily offering is one of the most visible parts of Balinese culture.

It is the canang sari, a small palm-leaf tray of flowers, rice and incense. People set it out on shrines, doorsteps and dashboards each morning, with smaller offerings on the ground.

Balinese offerings explained takes them apart piece by piece, and sekala and niskala explains why they are made.

Gebogan towers carried to the temple, balanced and blessed. Photo: Tijden / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Even offerings differ by village. In Julah, the regency's report notes, the canang is filled with areca nut, betel and intaran leaves in place of the usual flowers. After prayer, people there tuck an intaran leaf behind the ear instead of a blossom.

Dance and Gamelan Belong to the Temple and the Stage

Dance in Bali belongs to the temple as much as to the stage.

UNESCO inscribed three genres of traditional dance in Bali in 2015. It described them as sacred, semi-sacred and dances for the enjoyment of the community. All three are accompanied by gamelan and learned informally in childhood.

UNESCO also lists the subak system as World Heritage, as a manifestation of Tri Hita Karana.

UNESCO lists five things the dances ask of a dancer:

• technical skill
• charisma
• humility
• discipline
• a special spiritual energy

A barong and its performers, drawn by I Ketut Gedé of Singaraja for the scholar H.N. van der Tuuk in the late nineteenth century. Photo: I Ketut Gedé / Wikimedia Commons (public domain)

Each form has its own page:

• The dance and music of north Bali, including the north's own traditions
• Rejang, the temple dance of women and girls
• Legong, the classical court dance for girls
• The Barong, the guardian beast, and Rangda, his opposite
• Kecak, the chanted circle of voices
• Balinese gamelan, the orchestras of gongs and metallophones
• Balinese songs, from children's songs to the kidung sung in the temple

Major cultural events in the north include the Buleleng Festival in Singaraja and the Lovina Festival.

Food Is Cooked for Ceremony as Well as for the Table

Balinese food is ceremonial as well as daily. Much of it is cooked for offerings and shared after them.

What to eat in Bali covers the dishes, from lawar to babi guling, and Bali street food covers the snacks. To cook it yourself, see cooking classes in Bali.

Nasi babi guling with crackling. Photo: Wei-chieh Chiu / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

The north has its own drinks. Palm Living's list of north Bali's local drinks includes rujak yeh kuwud from Suwug. It is made from coconut water, which can use what is left over from making lawar.

The drinks of north Bali covers arak, tuak and more. Jamu covers the herbal tradition and its Balinese name, loloh.

The Balinese Language Changes With Who You Speak To

Balinese is an Austronesian language, and its higher registers borrow heavily from Javanese.

Most people speak the low register day to day, and most also speak Indonesian. Kawi, an old form of classical Javanese, is still used in Bali as a religious and ceremonial language.

The words you use depend on who you are talking to, so a few phrases go a long way. Balinese words and phrases gives the useful ones.

The old texts were written on palm leaf, the lontar. Singaraja keeps a library of them, Gedong Kirtya.

Illustrated lontar strips of the Prastanikang Parwa on display at Gedong Kirtya. Photo: Hanno Lans / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 4.0)

Balinese Art Goes Back to the Artisans of Majapahit

Wikipedia's account of Balinese art traces it to the artisans of the Majapahit kingdom, who came to Bali from the late fourteenth century. The village of Kamasan in Klungkung was the centre of classical Balinese art from the sixteenth century to the twentieth.

The craft villages around Ubud each have their speciality:

• painting in Ubud and Batuan
• woodcarving in Mas
• gold and silver in Celuk
• stone carving in Batubulan

North Bali has its own artistic tradition. I Ketut Gedé was a painter from Singaraja. In the 1880s and 1890s he drew many scenes of Balinese life, myth and ritual for the Dutch scholar H.N. van der Tuuk. The barong above is one of them.

Traditional crafts of north Bali covers the weaving, carving and metalwork made here today. Where to shop in north Bali covers where to buy them.

North Bali Has a Culture of Its Own

These pages explore the cultural traditions distinctive to Buleleng:

• North Bali history and the Jagaraga war: the regency's history
• Jayaprana and Layonsari: its great love story
• Sapi Gerumbungan: its bull races
• Why north Bali is different: the reasons it feels different
• Things to do in north Bali: the main sights, from Lovina to the Munduk hills

Beyond Buleleng, Bali's own dog breed comes from the Kintamani highlands. See the Kintamani dog.

To experience this culture more deeply, consider spending time in the villages rather than simply passing through. Palm Living's villas are mostly around Lovina, a short drive from Singaraja and the Bali Aga villages in the hills of Banjar district.

How to Be a Good Guest: Bali Has Written the Rules Down

Bali's government has set out what it asks of foreign visitors.

The Governor's Circular No. 4 of 2023 for foreign visitors, dated 31 May 2023, asks you to:

• Honour temples and sacred symbols, and respect ceremonies and processions in progress
• Dress modestly at temples, attractions and in public
• Stay out of a temple's inner and middle courtyards unless you are there to pray, in Balinese dress, and not menstruating
• Never climb sacred trees or temple structures, or pose for photos in improper dress at holy sites
• Leave no litter and avoid single-use plastic
• Visit attractions with a licensed guide who knows the local customs

Temple etiquette goes through a visit step by step. As a general rule, avoid stepping on offerings and wait patiently when a ceremony temporarily blocks the road.

FAQ

What is Balinese culture known for? Balinese culture is known for a living Hindu religion practised in public. You see it in daily offerings, temple festivals and life-cycle ceremonies, run by the customary village and its banjar. It is also known for dance and gamelan music, and UNESCO inscribed three genres of Balinese dance as intangible heritage in 2015. The subak rice terraces are a World Heritage landscape.

What religion do Balinese people follow? Most follow Balinese Hinduism. It puts ritual practice, community duty and the honouring of ancestors at its centre. It aims at balance between the seen world, sekala, and the unseen, niskala. North Bali also has its churches and a Buddhist monastery.

What is a banjar in Bali? A banjar is the neighbourhood unit of a Balinese customary village. Bali's provincial law calls it the banjar adat or banjar suka duka, the banjar of joy and sorrow. It organises the ceremonies, weddings and cremations of its members under its own written rules, the awig-awig.

What are the most important Balinese ceremonies? Galungan and Kuningan, when the ancestors visit, and Nyepi, the Day of Silence, are among the biggest island-wide holy days. For families, the key rites are the otonan birthday, metatah tooth filing, weddings and the ngaben cremation.

What should tourists know about Balinese culture? Dress modestly, especially at temples, and wear a sarong and sash to enter one. Do not go into a temple's inner courtyards unless you are there to pray. Never climb shrines or sacred trees, never step on offerings, and give way to processions. Bali's Governor set these out in a 2023 circular for foreign visitors.

What language do Balinese people speak? They speak Balinese and Indonesian, the national language. Balinese is an Austronesian language with registers that change with the status of the person you are speaking to. Kawi, an old form of Javanese, is still used in ritual.

Is north Bali culture different from the south? In places. Buleleng has more Bali Aga villages than any other regency, with their own burial customs and offerings. It keeps Pagerwesi on the scale of Galungan, and it has its own festivals, bull races and painting tradition.

Sources

• Wikipedia, Balinese Hinduism (orthopraxy, community duty, ancestors, sekala and niskala, kaja and kelod), read September 2026 (in English)
• Province of Bali, Regional Regulation No. 4 of 2019 on Customary Villages (desa adat, banjar adat or banjar suka duka, awig-awig), read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Buleleng Regency, Bali Aga, rich in tradition (Buleleng has the most Bali Aga villages in Bali, the seven villages, burial, the village balian, Julah's offerings), read September and October 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Gede Ngurah Oka Diputra, I Wayan Sudiarta and Ni Made Serma Wati, Etnomatematika: aplikasi matematika pada perhitungan hari suci agama Hindu dan banten, Widyadari (30 wuku of seven days, holy days every 210 days), read October 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Karangasem Regency information office, Getting to know the reckonings behind the Balinese calendar (the Saka year as a lunar year kept in step with the sun, the new year after Tilem Kesanga), read October 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Wikipedia, Pawukon calendar (the ten weeks of one to ten days), read September 2026 (in English)
• UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, Three genres of traditional dance in Bali (inscribed 2015, the three genres and what the dances ask of a dancer), read September and October 2026 (in English)
• UNESCO World Heritage Centre, Cultural Landscape of Bali Province: the Subak System as a Manifestation of the Tri Hita Karana Philosophy, read October 2026 (in English)
• Wikipedia, Balinese language, Balinese art and I Ketut Gedé, read September 2026 (in English)
• Governor of Bali, Circular No. 4 of 2023 on the new order for foreign tourists in Bali, 31 May 2023, the full text as published by Kecamatan Buleleng (the obligations and prohibitions), read October 2026 (in Indonesian), and detikBali, 12 obligations and 8 prohibitions for foreign tourists, 31 May 2023, read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• ANTARA, Governor of Bali issues new circular for foreign tourists, 31 May 2023, read September 2026 (in Indonesian)
• Palm Living, 6 local beverages in north Bali, read September 2026 (in English)

Start with Balinese Hinduism explained, the Balinese calendar and Balinese offerings explained.