DENPASAR (indo.com): During the month of August it is common to see Balinese cremation ceremonies, known locally as Ngaben. The cremation season begins in the third week of August and concludes by the end of the month.

This month, cremation ceremonies have started in several places in eastern Bali, including Klungkung, Gianyar and Karangasem regencies. The previously buried corpses, including those buried five years ago, have to be dug up and placed in a temporary shrine in the cemetery for cremation.

To the Balinese, a cremation is an occasion for gaiety and not for mourning, since it represents one of their most sacred duties: the ceremonial burning of the corpses of the dead to liberate their souls so that they can enter the higher world and be free for reincarnation into better beings.

When the cremation is held at the end of August, a huge crowd will be seen swarming along the streets, and shouting, laughing hordes of men shoulder gaudy platforms and life-size animal statues, weaving along in a crazy path under the strain of their burdens. There are water fights and boisterous horseplay, as the animal statues spin around riotously and tilt precariously. Meanwhile, small white clothes are strung out over the heads of dozens of people who carry the gigantic tower and women carry objects in silver bowls on their heads.

Large cremations cost thousands of dollars, which is too expensive for one family to pay alone, so many families who have corpses hold cremation ceremonies in groups in order to economize. With a sense of togetherness and solidarity, they work together to carry out all the necessary things needed for the cremation.

A Balinese cremation is a big event and much of it has nothing to do with the physical aspects of the dead body - the spiritual is of much greater importance. Offerings provide symbolic pleasure to the deified ancestors and to the spirits that will be shortly released to God. Most importantly, however, the offerings will implore God to purify the spirit and return it to earth in an appropriately higher and purer form.

Evil Spirits
The empty sarcophaguses are snatched up by the shouting men of the banjar (society members) and spun and whirled as they are carried in a crazy melee to the cemetery. This idea is to confuse the evil spirits and make them lose their way so that they cannot return and haunt the family. After the sarcophaguses arrive at the cemetery, the men return again to carry the tower, which represents the Balinese universe.

When all is ready, the fires are ignited to burn the sarcophagus, in which many bones of the corpses are contained. This may be done by a pedanda (a holy priest from the highest caste), and after the fires have died down, attendants douse the ashes with water and collect Chinese coins, while family members collect scraps of ashes and bone from the bodies. Meanwhile, the lay priest rings his bell and chants magic mantras that will help the release of the soul and aid it on its journey to heaven.