Thousands of people gathered at Penataran Sasih Pejeng temple to attend one of the grandest of temple celebrations '€” Tawur Pancawali Krama, a six-month temple celebration that started in November last year and will end this April.

Every day, the people of Pejeng, an ancient village in Gianyar, flock to the temple to make various ritual preparations.

Ketut Arini and Made Rini were seen busy preparing lavish offerings for the ritual, which reached its peak on Feb. 20. The offerings were to be placed on the newly renovated Palinggih Prasadha Agung main shrine, which was built to resemble a Buddhist stupa like those at Borobudur temple, which is why the local people call it bebuduran.

These two middle-aged women have been voluntarily visiting the temple to make a range of offerings for the last two months '€” in Balinese this voluntary devotion is known as ngayah. Arini makes batik and by preparing offerings at the temple, she loses her daily income.

'€œThank God, everything has been running smoothly. I don'€™t mind that I don'€™t have any income, my dedication to the gods in the form of ngayah has spiritually satisfied my soul,'€ Arini said. For Balinese Hindus, male and female, ngayah, communal work to make temple celebrations a success, is a true form of dedication.

Financially, each family in the village has donated Rp 2 million (US$149.22) to support the celebration. On Feb. 20, 14 high priests performed the Tawur Agung ceremony.

Dewa Suamba, chairperson of the organizing committee, said that this karya agung (grand ceremony) was particularly special as it was held for the first time fifty years ago, in 1965-1966, during a very chaotic time in Indonesia'€™s history.

'€œAt that time, the ceremony was held in a simple way because of the national political situation,'€ said Suamba.

This year'€™s ceremony has involved thousands of people from 33 banjar (hamlets) in four villages '€“ Pejeng Kaja, Pejeng Kangin, Pejeng Kelod and Pejeng Kawan.

Jro Kuta Pejeng Cok Gde Putra Pemayun said that everybody had joined together to make a successful celebration. '€œThey [the villagers] have been willingly to give everything '€” money, goods and time,'€ he said.

Local artists gave a series of dances and musical performances, including wayang gedog, topeng, gambuh, rejang dewa, baris gede, rejang renteng, gamelan baleganjur, angklung, gong beri, gong lelambatan, gong luang and selonding.

Suamba regularly updated programs, video and photos on various social media and the village'€™s website www.pejeng.desa.id.

Agung Oka Santika organized an art performance held on Monday night. Before 9 p.m., thousands of people had gathered at the temple. The sacred Sanghyang Jaran dance was performed and all the lights were turned off to create a moment of silence.

The local people were eager to follow every stage of this rare ritual, which saw the female dancer move her body, swaying like a running horse, while a man was in trance and acted like a horse. The dance lasted for one hour, marking the climax of the ritual.

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