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span class="inline inline-left">For sale: A canangsari seller sets out her wares at the market in Badung.After the school bell rang, 16-year-old Kadek Adi rushed home. He changed his clothes and had a quick lunch before immersing himself in his usual afternoon activity — making canangsari, the simplest of Balinese Hinduism’s offerings of fresh flowers and leaves placed in a square of coconut leaves.

Adi and his older sister, Ni Putu Wina, run a canangsari business out of their grandmother’s home on Jl. Katrangan in East Denpasar.   

“It’s been almost a year since we started the business in 2011. It is profitable for us. At least, we no longer have to ask for money from our parents,” Adi said, adding that their parents live in Nusa Dua and manage a food stall.

On a normal day, Adi and Wina can produce 200 plastic bags, each filled with 25 canangsari. Adi and Wina sell the bags for Rp 5,000 (55 US cents) to their aunt, who has a shop nearby. Their aunt then sells them for Rp 7,000 a bag to her customers, earning Adi and Wina a profit of Rp 1,000 for each bag of canangsari they make.

“Although the profit that we get is less than our aunt’s, it doesn’t matter. We have no idea where we would sell them outside of our aunt’s shop because the competition is very tight between canangsari makers,” Adi said.

The two young entrepreneurs are part of the growing number of Balinese and non-Balinese who are trying their luck in the offering-making business.

The business taps into a steadily increasing demand as more and more Balinese housewives stop creating the offerings themselves.

Some makers produce not only simple offerings but also more elaborate ones for major temple festivals, large-scale purification and sacrificial rituals and rites of passage.

They usually came from the brahmin high priest family and have an extensive knowledge of Mpu Lutuk — the traditional texts on offerings — as well as a close relationship with the high priests who officiate at rituals.

Offerings: A canangsari seller waits for customers on the side of the road.Fifty-year-old Ida Ayu Isyawati has been running her business for 20 years. Her outfit comprises seven women, all her relatives. The base of their “company” is Geriya Telaga, the house of an influential high priest and Isyawati’s spiritual master, Ida Pedanda Gede Telaga.

According to Isyawati, orders came from households and companies in Denpasar and Badung. Many hotels in Sanur, Nusa Dua and Tanjung Benoa have become their regular customers.

“We receive various kind of orders, such as offerings for odalan [the anniversary of temples] and melaspas [a ceremony to cleanse a new building from any impurity],” she said.

Isyawati said her profits were good.

“We profit but it is not too much, it is enough to cover our daily needs,” she said.

In January alone, Isyawati received at least five orders at a total value of about Rp 50 million. She said from that amount her group received Rp 15 million in profit.

To satisfy her customers, Isyawati said she always completes orders within one to two days.

“That’s why we have to work overtime until late at night. I want to deliver a fresh offering to my customers,” she said.

The religious festivals of Balinese Hinduism also offer opportunity for the makers of ritual paraphernalia. For instance, Galungan, a joyous festival every six months to commemorate the victory of dharma (virtues) over adharma (vices), is the peak business period for the makers of penjor (decorated bamboo poles). Balinese Hindus are obliged to erect penjor in front of their homes for Galungan.

Ketut Suwandi, a penjor maker from Abian Kapas village in East Denpasar, managed huge profits last Galungan.

The man, who has been running the business for over 15 years, received 250 orders from various places in Denpasar. The prices ranged from Rp 125,000 to Rp 350,000 depending on the decoration and the materials used. The price included delivery and installation.

“This business offers a good profit. I get Rp 40,000 in profit from one penjor,” he said, adding that he couldn’t take some orders because he didn’t have enough workers to finish them.

Another penjor maker, I Wayan Nano, had Rp 15 million in profit in just one week.

Good trade: The Galungan holiday is the peak business period for makers of decorated bamboo poles called penjor, which Balinese Hindus are obliged to erect in front of their homes.“The religious rituals of Balinese Hindus and the fact that many housewives and families are now opting to buy instead of making the offering themselves have created a major business opportunity. Balinese Hindus spend a large proportion of their income to buy offerings,” Udayana University school of economics professor I Made Sukarsa said.

From research in 2005, Sukarsa found that the island’s Hindu population spent up to Rp 1.8 trillion every year on routine religious celebrations such as Galungan, Kuningan, Purnama (the full moon festival), Tilem (the dark moon festival) and Kajeng Kliwon. In a single year, there are at least 108 routine religious festivals.

“We didn’t include the money spent on non-routine religious events such as rites of passage, Ngaben cremations, and community-organized purification and sacrificial ceremonies,” he added.

The study involved 405 households in all nine regency-level regions in Bali. Sukarsa also found that each household spent Rp 2.6 million, or 10.5 percent of their total income per year on routine religious festivals.

“Each year Balinese Hindus use more than 20,000 tons of fresh flowers and 36,000 tons of coconut leaves to make offerings for routine religious rituals,” he said.

Neat: Hundreds of canangsari are available at the Badung market.Sukarsa also said many non-Balinese have taken the opportunity to start offering businesses.

“It is fine if they are doing this business, because it’s their right. But, do they really understand how to make canangsari in accordance with Balinese Hinduism’s concepts and philosophy?” he asked.

A similar concern was voiced by I Made Suasti Puja from the Indonesia Hindu Parisadha Council (PHDI). He said many canangsari makers did not understand the religious concept that underlines the simple offering. The canangsari must contain a porosan, a tiny leaf container with betel leaves, areca nut and slaked lime in it to represent Balinese Hinduism’s trinity of Brahma the Creator, Wisnu the Sustainer and Siwa the Destroyer.

“Without a porosan, it is not a canangsari. It is only a flower arrangement,” he said.

Suasti Puja said he hopes all offering-makers, Balinese and non-Balinese alike, respect the philosophy and symbolism behind the offerings.

— Photos by Agung Parameswara