March is special in Bali. The 17th of March is the first day of Saka New Year 1940. Saka Year is from the Balinese Lunar Calendar System which consists of 12 months and 30 days of each month, and the Balinese Hindu celebrates the first day of the year by exercising Catur Brata Penyepian, which […]

Love is an absurdly warm feeling full of complexity. Love stories can end up being happily ever after or, alternatively, manifest into agony and hatre...

Every Balinese dance has a story, including The Lingsar, which shares the history between Lombok and Bali. The King of Karangasem sent Anak Agung Ketu...

Chapter 27 Statues and Carvings Text & Illustration by Bruce Granquist The temple walls often contain long carved reliefs that tell the stories of...

There are other preparations besides preparing the temple grounds, other important elements of ritual life that can take years to develop and perfect....

Padmasana The most important shrine in a temple complex is the Padmasana. This is the seat of the God who is believed to become manifest during the te...

  While visitors in the south brave Bali’s holiest mountain, the volcanic, Gunung Agung continues to engage, fascinate and terrify visitors and...

Out of the squalor and chaos of the market, a stream of waving long bamboo flagpoles or penjors start to appear. Accompanied by the sound of gamelan g...

Even while the Holy mountain rumbles, life in Bali goes on. The Balinese tend to take life as it comes, living in the moment, rather than fretting abo...

Tuesday, 27 March 2018, was the official book launching of ‘Myth, Magic and Mystery in Bali’, a new book by Jean Couteau, published by PT. Phoenix...

  Text Jean Couteau with Wayan Westa, Photos by Georges Breguet It all started very simply, the shrills of insect, followed by the frightened shr...

Like everything, wise Balinese men will tell you, even their island too is subjected to the law of the Rwabhinneda, the complementary opposites. Light...

What is the value of human life? How does our society appraise personal endeavour, imagination and creativity when the priority of doctors and medical...

Bali is an extraordinary visual experience, equalled by few other locations on earth. From the spectacular, shimmering landscapes, to the architectura...

The most significant display of contemporary art on the island during 2015 featured many of Bali’s finest artists exhibiting side-by-side with emerg...

It was with great sadness that I heard of the sudden and unexpected passing of Made Wijaya, my long time friend and columnist of both NOW! Jakarta and...

Last month, at a Bongkasa high priest’s cremation, I saw a contemporary-cum-ceremonial dance performance staged around the funeral pyre. It resemble...

Many of the late pedanda’s disciples are wearing commemoratives t-shirts emblazed with the message ‘Death is life’s friend’. Balinese history ...