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grand Pengratep ritual marked the celebrations of the Kuningan festival on Serangan Island on Saturday, which saw thousands of Balinese Hindus gather at the island's Sakenan Temple.

The ceremony was held at the ancient temple following previous celebrations in 2000 and 1971.

Kuningan is the closing festival of a series of ceremonies celebrating the victory of dharma (virtue) against adharma (vice). Kuningan falls 10 days after Galungan, the largest celebration in the series.

The two festivals take place once every six months.

Wearing their best Balinese attire and bearing offerings, devotees lined up at the entrance of the Sakenan Temple, the center of the Kuningan celebrations. They took turns to perform prayers and participate in the Pengratep ritual.

"We present Pengratep to Sang Hyang Widi Wasa *God*, so that all of us will be blessed and kept away from any disasters," said ritual committee leader Ida Bagus Pidada.

"We decided to hold the Pengratep again, after the last one nine years ago, in the wake of various recent disasters on our beloved earth," he said.

During the ceremony, a series of rituals were carried out, as devotees continued to chant their prayers to Sang Hyang Widi Wasa.

The ceremony was necessary to balance nature, as destruction of the environment has become increasingly rampant, said Wayan Sudarsana, an aide at the Sakenan Temple.

"Our natural environment has become too polluted and damaged and we need to clean it up from any negative things.

"Through this ceremony, we pray for a better nature, and we wish to restrain God's anger about the destruction of the environment," he said.

He said that among the most obvious examples of man-made destruction was the reclamation of segara (sea) and the mangrove forest around Serangan Island, which is responsible for the conversion of 380 hectares since 1996, as well as various disasters worldwide as a result of climate change.

"That's why we need to calm down nature and pray for our safety and for blessings from God by performing this ceremony."

Under the scorching heat, thousands of devotees continued to follow the ceremony.

They also went around the island to perform prayers in three separate temples that form the Sakenan sacred compound.

The temples are Dalem Sakenan in the western tip of Serangan Island, and the Sesuhunan Agung and Sesuhunan Wadon temples.

One of the devotees, Made Balik, came all the way from Gianyar with his wife Ni Nyoman Rusni to join the Pengratep grand ritual.

"This is our second time to Sakenan to celebrate Kuningan. We come here because we want to participate in Pengratep," he said.

The Sakenan Temple was built in the 12th century by Mpu Kuturan or Mpu Rajakretha, one of the most respected religious figures in Bali.