Galungan - Day Of The God

In a few days, Balinese or Hindus of Balinese to be exact, will celebrate their most significant ritual - Galungan. Occuring once every 210 days in the Pawukon (Balinese cycle of days), Galungan will last for 10 days. This Galungan starts on Wednesday, 27th of June and ends at Kuningan day on Saturday, 7th of July.
Galungan is celebrated as the triumph of virtue (Dharma) over evil (Adharma). On this season, people can see Balinese run festival feast everywhere and almost everyday and Bali will look so colorful with its offering. A week before Galungan day which is also called Sugian Tenten. The next day, on Thursday Wage (six days before the actual Galungan day) people celebrate Sugian Jawa. On the following day, they celebrate Sugian Bali. Those three celebrations symbolize the process in purifying mind (Sugian Tenten), body (Sugian Jawa) and soul (Sugian Bali).
Saturday and Sunday (the following days) are called the Embang Sugi (the time when people are concentrating on self-abilities.) Then, Monday Pon Dungulan (in the following week) is called Penyajaan Galungan (a symbol of asking for power from God). The next day, Tuesday Wage Dunggulan is called Penampahan Galungan, symbolizes the time when dharma or truth fights against adharma or evil. Penampahan means "slaughtering" the evil or bad spirits. During this penampahan day, Balinese will slaughter a pig unlucky enough to be chosen to help celebrate this occasion. Then the finely diced pork is mashed to a pulp with a grinding stone, and moulded onto sate sticks that have been already prepared by whittling small sticks of bamboo. Chickens may also be chosen from the collection of free-range chickens that roam around the house compound. Delicate combinations of various vegetables, herbs and spices are also prepared by the men to make up a selection of 'lawar' dishes. While much of this cooking is for use in the offerings to be made at the family temple, by mid-morning, once all the cooking is done, it is time for the first of a series of satisfying feasts from what has been prepared.

To celebrate Galungan, houses are decorated with penjor - long bamboo poles hung with offering, splendidly decorated with woven young coconut leaves, fruit, cakes and flowers. Everyone puts on their best attire. This is Balinese Hindu culture at its most colourful and vibrant with all sorts of festivals held during the Galungan period.

During the Galungan period the deified ancestors of the family descend to their former homes. They must be suitably entertained and welcomed, and prayers and offerings must be made for them. Those families who have ancestors that have not yet been cremated, but are still buried in the village cemetery, must make offerings at the graves.

On Wednesday, the day of Galungan, one will find that most Balinese will try to return to their own ancestral home at some stage during the day, even if they work in another part of the island. This is a very special day for families, where offerings are made to God and to the family ancestors who have come back to rest at this time in their family temple. As well as the family temple, visits are made to the village temple with offerings as well, and to the homes of other families who may have helped the family in some way over the past six months.
The day after Galungan, called Manis Galungan, is a time for a holiday, visiting friends, maybe taking the opportunity to head for the mountains for a picnic. Everyone is still seen to be in their 'Sunday best' as they take to the streets to enjoy the festive spirit that Galungan brings to Bali.

All materials compiled from: Wikipedia and BaliBagus.com