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span class="inline inline-left">Decorative: Penjors are for sale in Kapal, Tabanan.The songs of priests and priestesses rang and roared across the predominantly Hindu province of Bali yesterday during the twice annual Galungan ceremonies.

Streets and lanes across the tourist island had shed tree branches and in their place raised penjors, richly decorated bamboo poles with flying dragon tails.

Ahead of this day of worship, families from almost every village were preparing offerings of cakes and fruits, decorations made of coconut leaf called janur, and sampian tail pieces for the penjor.

Many others took the easy route and hit the stalls of Kapal village in Tabanan to buy ready-made penjor accoutrements.

Galungan is a boon for traders in these decorations, according to 38-year-old Ibu Agung Nurida, whose family has been in the business for the past six decades, trading from their corner kiosk in Muncan village in Tabanan.

“We’ve been here on this spot for 60 years. Our offerings business has been handed down generation to generation,” says Agung in the short spaces between customers.

Bamboo penjor poles stand in great stacks near the roadside, from the ceiling of her stall hang janur, sampian in a myriad of styles, and meter-long sections of kolong kolong that ride the spine of the penjor, creating their distinct dragon form.

“On normal days I sell maybe 50 to 100 bamboo poles for flags or other ceremonies, but in preparation for Galungan I can sell more than double that number. We probably sell around 50 pieces of janur and the other decorations needed to make penjor,” says Agung.

Almost all the shoppers at her stall are male, as it is the men and boys of Bali who make the stunning penjor that sway in the tropical breezes of Bali.

Adorned: A dragon decorates this penjor in Mas, Gianyar.Two young men arrive by motor scooter at Agung’s stall. Their eyes are bright with excitement as they examine the decorations on offer.

“We are here to buy janur. We want to make our penjor unique and beautiful. We will decorate the penjor to look like a dragon’s tail,” says 17-year-old Dharma, adding that he likes to make penjor “because we must. This is a symbol of the dragon that protects Mount Agung. Making a penjor can be really complex and take three days with four people working on it for a good one,” says Dharma heading home with his preferred janur.

Arriving at the kiosk in a new pickup truck, Ida Bagus Gede Astawa from Tabanan is in the market for some serious decorations.

“Galungan is tomorrow so I have to put up the family penjor by this evening. My family started preparing for Galungan three days ago. Men make the penjors because women are busy preparing the offerings,” explains Astawa of the division of labor ahead of the holy day.

He chooses the largest janur in Agung’s stall, loading it into the back of his pickup. Astawa takes Galungan and the dragon design of his penjor very seriously because, “the dragon protects us. It is like a string of protection tied around my family,” says Astawa.

For brothers, Surya, 15, and Priastana, 22, making the best penjor on their street is the goal.

“We discuss the colors and the design for our penjor. We want it to be beautiful, we really like making them … because it is wajib — a religious obligation,” says Priastana settling on a black and white sampian to finish the tail decoration of their penjor.

A few hundred meters down the road at another penjor kiosk, workers are putting the final touches on a massive 12-meter-long penjor. Hanoman, the white monkey who saved Sita from the clutches of Rahwana in the Ramayana, is perched on the penjor that takes six men to raise.

“We make a special penjor every six months, always with a different theme,” says kiosk owner Sumada. “This one is very good,” beams Sumada as the penjor stretches across the main Tabanan road, halting trucks and buses in their tracks before being lifted into position.

Sumada’s penjor business supplies not only Hindus following a religious obligation but also foreign-owned villas and hotels, he says.

“Ahead of Galungan I get a lot of orders for penjor from villas and hotels. This time I had about 20 orders,” says Sumada of the penjors that can cost upwards of US$300.

Readied: Ibu Agung’s penjor decorations are ready for sale.“This one with Hanoman cost me Rp 3 million,” says Sumada.

With daily offerings to the gods and endless religious ceremonies eating into many Balinese Hindu’s incomes, one village in Mas, Gianyar, has returned to the old ways, sourcing the coconut leaves and bamboo poles needed to make penjor and creating them from scratch, according to Wayan Lebih of Juga village.

“In our village, penjor don’t look like the ones you see everywhere. Ours are more simple, because we do everything ourselves. The men find the bamboo poles, we don’t buy them, and our wives and children make the decorations from coconut leaves. It only takes a day to complete a penjor and it costs us nothing. We work together as a family so our children learn how to make penjor and our traditions are not lost. If you buy penjor and penjor decorations, in the future our children won’t know how to make these special decorations for our religious ceremonies,” says Lebih, a deeply religious man who, with his village, keeps the dragon tail flying free.

— Photos By J.B. Djwan