Bali - Cremation Ritual form 1996 / bull December 1996

The cremation procedures are very complicated and also very expensive. If the family does not have enough money the dead are buried temporarily and the cremation is postponed until the necessary financial means have been acquired (Some families spend decades saving money for the occasion!). When a high-ranking personality dies the poorer families can exhume their dead and join the cremation, but they still have to pay their share in the costs. When all the necessary preparations are finished the deceased are placed in elaborately decorated portable cremation towers (Badés) that are carried by the men to the cremation place. The women and girls follow in their best clothes and carry on the head baskets with fruit and flowers. Gamelan musicians beat drums and play other instruments. The atmosphere is not at all sad or depressing but very cheerful and happy.