Great festivity: Tens of thousands of people participate in the majestic Usaba Dangsil ritual in Karangasem, Bali, in late August. The seven giant pillars symbolize welfare and protection.

After the last ceremony 14 years ago, residents of Bungaya in Karangasem, one of the oldest villages in Bali, proudly participated in the Usaba Dangsil ritual, a big thanksgiving ceremony that also celebrates youth initiation.

People were beaming with enthusiasm and happiness as they followed a series of activities in the ritual of Usaba Aya, better known as Usaba Dangsil (festival of gratitude), in Bungaya village, Karangasem regency, some 80 kilometers from Denpasar, Bali.

Colorful traditional cotton clothes also marked the auspicious days because visitors and residents watching the ritual were not allowed to wear plain or white and black outfits, which were believed to only belong to gods.

The joy was shared by Nengah Theo, a 9-year-old boy, who was going to enter an important phase in his life as part of the succeeding generation at the peak of the ritual on Aug. 29. His parents were dressing him and his younger brother Komang Flores, 7, while five older cousins also got themselves prepared for a procession.

The parents were boosting the spirit of their children, who were braced for the arduous ritual sequences that would last from dusk to dawn. They would be gathering in Bale Agung, the main ritual temple for daha (young unmarried women) and teruna (young unmarried men).

Theo and Flores each carried a kris on their backs, tied up with yellow woven cloths, considered sacred for the youths to be inaugurated as teruna in Bungaya. These cloths will be kept until they die. They should not be washed and should be treated with respect.

The costumes for daha had fewer accessories, except for red and yellow woven cloths. Their decorative headgear was made from colorful cloths and paper and these women appeared without too much make-up.

The main ceremony of Usaba Dangsil was the induction of the daha and teruna as members of the succeeding generation. More than 500 young males and females who felt physically and mentally prepared had enrolled. Theo and Flores were among the youngest of the entries in the single status.

“I’m ready and happy to join. I’ve seen the video on YouTube,” said Theo, who lived in Mataram, Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. His father runs a transportation business for east Indonesian routes and the family had carefully arranged a homecoming trip to Bungaya to follow Usaba Dangsil, after the previous event 14 years ago.

The thrill of this ceremony prompted the two boys to participate in this ritual, which taught the future successors about their culture. Both children had earlier joined a series of rituals that tested them physically and spiritually, including the tough melasti (purification to the sea), which required them to walk 15 kilometers back and forth while fasting the whole day.

In the next manda procession, all the youths had to dance and walk while trying not to get separated from their groups for almost 12 hours from dusk. The daha and teruna take turns in the performances that are accompanied by a sacred selonding gamelan. Some of the young participants even got their turn at midnight.

One of them was 8-year-old Wayan Putu Aristyani. Her father, Wayan Putu Bungaya, chatted with her to dispel boredom as she waited for her turn to perform. While some audience members of the ritual were busy with their mobile phones, Aristyani and other teenage participants of the ritual were not allowed to bring their gadgets.

The next chapter of the performance was delivered without any lights. The audience were asked to put out any sources of light, such as cigarettes, cell phones and lamps. It was 2 a.m. and hundreds of youths danced inside their groups in the dark.

Some of them fell while stepping down to the temple yard. Parents could only hope that their children would be fine, but usually they had prepared offerings in case something happened during the ritual. If anyone fails in carrying on the procession because of fainting or other causes, their parents would have to offer white-crested ducks to the temple. These roasted ducks could be taken home after being sacrificed.

After almost an hour, the lamps were turned on, but the youth kept dancing until the gamelan sound came to a halt at six o’clock. The participants could not sleep yet as they were about to participate in the climax of the Usaba Dangsil ritual in the morning, the most awaited moment.

Patience and endurance: A daha (young woman) sleeps while waiting for her turn to dance. The young participants are not allowed to eat, drink or carry their cell phones during the Usaba Dangsil ritual.

Interestingly, a small Islamic community played an instrumental role in Bungaya. About 20 ethnic Sasak (Lombok) Muslims joined the masses of bare-chested men wearing kamen (sarong) to parade seven dangsil (wooden pillars containing various kinds of agricultural produce) weighing 2 to 7 tons. Some elderly people said once the biggest dangsil could not move as the Sasak Muslim brothers had not joined the ritual.

Currently, about 200 Muslim families live in Lebah Sari hamlet, Bungaya. The Usaba Dangsil tradition has become a means of cultural adaptation and a showcase of tolerance values.

Ida Bagus Jungutan, a community figure and ritual committee chairman, said the Sasak group in Bungaya originated from two Sasak people who helped recover a sacred heirloom that had plunged into the Lombok Sea when the Karangasem king’s troops sailed home from a battle. They were later invited to Bali and granted a settlement in gratitude. Today, a Sasak mosque and graveyard are located in the middle of the village, near Hindu temples and other places of worship.

I Wayan Sandi, a Bungaya resident whose three children were among the youths, said this tolerance was passed down as local wisdom.

Nengah Theo couldn’t help shouting and applauding with zeal as the large crowds managed to march the
dangsil to the Penataran temple, marking the end of the entire ritual. Usaba Dangsil has actually imbued the minds and souls of everybody in the village with the bliss and joy of harmony.

— Photos by Luh De Suriyani

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