Christmas on Bali - 'Galungan' for Christians?

DENPASAR (indo.com): Hot on the heels of the Moslem celebration of Idul Fitri comes Christmas day. Many hotels have already begun decorating their interiors in traditional festive style, often with a Balinese flavour, adding banana leaf decorations to the traditional pines and yule-logs.

The Balinese regard Christmas day as the Christians' version of Galungan, one of the most festive celebrations in the Balinese calendar. In the north of Bali, where a number of villages are populated largely by Christians, the locals celebrate Christmas by erecting decorations very similar to those used by the island's Hindu majority when celebrating Galungan and Kuningan - long bamboo poles, curled over at the top, adorned with numerous decorations made of coconut leaves, flowers and other natural materials.

Christians and Hindu's live harmoniously together in Bali. In Sawan village, Buleleng regency, local Christians themselves refer to Christmas as 'Galungan Kristen'. As is traditional on Galungan Day, people of differing faiths join in the Christians' celebrations by bringing gifts of cakes, rice, sugar and many other consumable delights to the friends and relatives.

No matter what faith people subscribe to, the Balinese spirit of harmonious living and fondness for celebration and festival remains a dominant theme of everyday life.