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Bali Arts Festival 2017 celebrates water as source of life
The month-long festival will begin on June 10 and allow visitors to enjoy plenty of cultural performances and lesser-known traditional rituals.
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Holy water: A Balinese woman cleanses her body at the Sebatu waterfall during the Banyu Pinaruh ritual. (JP/Agung Prameswara)
T
he Bali Arts Festival is back for the 39th time this year. Beginning on June 10 and ending on July 8, the festival allows visitors to enjoy plenty of cultural performances and lesser-known traditional rituals.
“Bali Arts Festival is not only designed as a platform to utilize, preserve, mentor and develop the art and culture of Bali, it also acts as a media promotion,” said Buleleng Regent Putu Agus Suradnyana.
Read also: Balinese culture, landscape highlighted at Bali Artists Camp 2016
The theme for this year is “Ulun Danu,” which is derived from Melestarikan Air Sumber Kehidupan (Preserving Water as the Source of Life). The word Ulu can mean head, center or upstream, whilse Danu can be translated as lake or water source.
“In the daily life of Balinese people, water is the symbol of life (amerta, merta, yeh, toya and tirta). Ulun Danu is actually local know-how on preserving, honoring and managing water as the source of life and civilization,” said the head of Bali’s tourism agency, A. A Gede Yuniartha Putra.
Read also: For a clean body and soul
“One of the festival’s main missions is to save traditional and classic arts and culture of Bali while also providing a space for artists to experiment. In the end, the festival has to be a tourist attraction for both local and overseas tourists,” added Bali Governor I Made Mangku Pastika. (asw)
